/033 


V       * 


UNIVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA 

BERKELEY 


UNIVERSITY   HIGH    SCHOOL 

FORTY-EIGHTH  AND  WEBSTER  STREETS,  OAKLAND 


BULLETIN  No.(2 


SELF-IMPROVEMENT  OF 
TEACHERS 


MARCH,  1919 


or 


n 


UNIVERSITY  OF   CALIFORNIA 

BERKELEY 


UNIVERSITY   HIGH   SCHOOL 

FORTY-EIGHTH  AND  WEBSTER  STREETS,  OAKLAND 


BULLETIN  No.  2 


SELF-IMPROVEMENT  OF 
TEACHERS 


MARCH,  1919 


UNIVERSITY   OF  CALIFORNIA   PRESS 
BERKELEY 


K 


SELF-IMPROVEMENT  OF 
TEACHERS 

USED   IN   CONNECTION  WITH   DIRECTED 
TEACHING 

C.  E.  RUGH 


462822 


FOREWORD 


BULLETIN  No.  1,  a  Tentative  Moral  Code,  issued  October,  1917, 
is  intended  for  the  self-improvement  of  boys  and  girls.  The 
present  bulletin  is  intended  for  adults.  The  concrete  applications 
of  the  principles  of  self-improvement  are  made  to  the  teacher, 
but  the  principles  employed  are  general  and  apply  to  all  forms 
of  human  service. 

BULLETIN  No.  3,  now  in  preparation,  treats  of  Professional 
Improvement  of  Teachers.  The  particular  forms  of  knowledge 
and  skill  employed  in  the  presence  of  the  class  are  therefore 
omitted  in  the  present  bulletin. 

"The  best  way  to  train  the  young  is  to  train  yourself  at 
the  same  time;  not  to  admonish  them,  but  to  carry  out  your 
principles  in  practice." — Plato. 

ABSTRACT 

FOREWORD. — A  monograph   on  personal  improvement   of  the  teacher. 
Professional  improvement  is  to  be  treated  in  Bulletin  No.  3. 

I.  Introduction. 

1.  Teaching  is  a  fine  art,  achieved  through  physical,  mental  and 

moral  development  of  the  artist. 

2.  The  teacher  has  at  his  command  all  the  achievements  of  the 

other  fine  arts. 

3.  Teaching  is  in  contrast  with  the  so-called  industrial  arts. 

(a)   The  teacher  works  with  persons,  yet  by  means  of  things. 
(&)   The  teacher  is  interested  in  the  primary  vocation  of  right 

living,  as  well,  as  the  vocation  for  making  a  living, 
(c)  Teaching  may  degenerate  into  a  mechanical  art. 

(1)  By  emphasis  of  school  machinery. 

(2)  By  abuse  of  scales  and 'measurements.        + 

(3)  By  failure  to  recognize  the  three  products  of  educational 

processes. 

Improvement  in  teaching  is  achieved  ~by  improvement  of  the  personality 
of  the  teacher. 


6 

II.  Motives  to  Geli -improvement. 

1.  "  Failure,  in  the  sense  of  opportunities  missed,  lays  its  blighting 

hand  upon  well-nigh  every  human  life. ' ' 

2.  1 1  The  causes  lie  chiefly  within  the  individual  himself. ' ' 

3.  Positive  motives  towards  achievements  of  success. 

(a)  Personal  motives  for  self -improvement. 

(1)  Personal  satisfaction  from  successful  action. 

(2)  Gratitude  of  pupils  well  taught. 

(3)  Promotions  and  increase  in  salary, 
(fc)  Professional  motives. 

(1)  Sense  of  personal  service  gives  a  high  form   of  satis- 

faction. 

(2)  Professional  tact  solves  cases  correctly. 

(3)  Professional  spirit  inspires  a  high  form  of  service, 
(c)  Patriotic  motives. 

(1)  Good  citizenship. 

(2)  A  democratic  state. 

(3)  A  safe  and  sane  world. 

III.  Nature  and  Need  of  a  Vital  Surplus. 

"1.  Supreme  service  of  the  teacher,  to  be  a  sample,  a  good  example 
of  right  living.    Attained  and  maintained  by  surplus  vitality. 

(a)  Surplus   vitality  is  the   characteristic   of  the  pupil   which 

makes  learning  possible.     Teacher  needs  same  as  a  basis 
of  sympathy  and  understanding. 

(b)  A  surplus  is  a  condition  of  continued  good  character. 

(c)  Emergencies  and  ''shock"  require  a  surplus. 

(1)  Teaching  becomes  complex. 

(2)  Death  rate  among  teachers  increasing. 

(3)  Life  of  service  may  be  increased. 

2.  Reserve  power. 

(a)  Examples  of  great  power  and  great  endurance. 

(1)  Individual  cases  of  extraordinary  power  and  endurance. 

(2)  Groups  of  men,  women,  and  children  exhibited  such  en- 

durance during  the  war. 

(3)  Inventors  and  artists  exhibit  surplus, 
(fc)  Explanations  of  reserve  power. 

^1)  The  religious  explanation  bases  the  reserve  in  powers 
external  to  the  agent. 

(2)  The  quasi-scientific  explanation  finds  the  power  a  re- 
sultant from  the  situation  and  the  physical  powers 
that  are  not  "tapped"  during  normal  activity. 


(3)   The    practical    explanation    is    found    in    the    emotions 
aroused.     These   emotions  require  both   external  and 
internal  power. 
3.  Nature  of  a  vital  surplus. 

(a)  The   principles   of   human    conservation   are   found   in   the 

laws  of  human  life. 

(b)  Life  is  a  harmony  of  rhythms. 

(c)  Vitality   depends   upon   the   harmonious   working   of   three 

systems. 

(1)  Dynamic  system;  to  secure  power. 

a.  A  harmony  of  digestion,  circulation,  respiration,  and 

exercise  secures  power. 

b.  How  strong  are  you? 

c.  How  long  will  you  live? 

(2)  The  kinetic  system;  for  releasing  power. 

a.  Eeservoirs  of  power  are  brain,  liver,  muscles. 

ft.  The  adrenal  and  thyroid  glands  are  agents  for  release 

and  control  of  power. 
c.  This  kinetic  system  is  set  to  work  by  emotions. 

(3)  The  Personal  System;  for  directing  powers  to  personal 

ends. 

a.  Is  man  a  machine  or  a  person? 

b.  Man  is  both  a  machine  and  a  person. 

(1)  The  dynamic  system  and  the  kinetic  systems  work 

according  to  mechanistic  principles. 

(2)  The  personal  system  works  "by  objects  in   our 

environment,  by  memories,  by  the  imagination, 
and  by  ideals." 

(3)  These  means  bring  into  play,  society,  "The  Great 

Communion"    (Eoyce)      Here   the   mechanistic 
formulas  do  not  apply. 

c.  The    development   of   "sentiments"   becomes   the   su- 

preme problems  of  personal  power. 

(1)  Elimination  of  "fears  and  worries." 

(2)  Learning  to  rearrange  emotions. 

(3)  Emotions  are  managed  indirectly. 

IV.  Conservation  of  Vitality. 
1.  Formulae: 

(a)  Life  formula.     "Life  is  response  to  the  Order  of  Nature." 
(&)  Law    of    Life    responses.     "Organisms    are    sensitive    and 
responsive  to  the  forces  that  give  them  birth  and  con- 
tinued being. ' ' 

(c)   Human  life  formula.     "Human  life  is  the  achievement  of 
a  perpetual  triumph ' ' — physical,  mental  spiritual. 


8 


2.  A  life  of  three  dimensions. 

(a)  Length  of  life  depends  upon  the  harmony  of  the  physical 

rhythms. 
(Z>)  Breadth  of  life  is  secured  by  breadth  of  interest  and  range 

of  activities, 
(c)  Depth  of  life  depends  upon  an  abiding  vision  and  ideal. 

3.  Processes  of  conservation. 

(a)  Physical  surplus. 

(1)  Checks  upon  physical  vitality. 

a.  The  sedentary  habits  of  the  profession  is  a  check, 
fc.  Unhygienic  living. 

c.  Poor  accommodations  in  boarding  houses  and  school 
rooms. 

(2)  Cultivation  of  physical  surplus. 

a.  By  eliminating  as  many  checks  as' possible. 

Z>.  By  positive  deposits  in  brain,  liver,  and  muscles. 

c.  By  calling  upon  the  vital  organs  for  more  vigorous 

activity  than  is  demanded  of  them  in  the  routine 

work. 

(1)  Enough    muscular    exercise    to    insure    "organic 

resonance. } ' 

(2)  Motivated  and  accompanied  by  joyous  emotions 

in  order  to  avoid  fatigue. 

(3)  Gulick  Schedule. 

(ft)  Mental  Vitality. 

(1)  Checks  to  Mental  Surplus. 

a.  The    flabby   physical    condition    so    prevalent    in    the 

teaching  profession. 

(1)  This  condition  is  exhibited  in  lack  of  resistance. 

(2)  In  frequent  fatigue. 

(3)  In  chronic  fatigue. 

b.  The  dangerous  check  upon  the  teacher's  mental  life 

is  incident  to  the  profession. 

(1)  Teachers  teach  children. 

(2)  Teach  same  grade  of  children 

(3)  Teach  same  subjects. 

c.  School  routine. 

(2)  Cultivation  of  Mental  Vitality. 

a.  By  cultivation  of  physical  vitality. 

(1)  By  toning  up  muscles  and  nerves. 

(2)  By  sufficient  supply  of  oxygen. 


9 


~b.  By  positive  mental  growth. 

(1)  Avoidance  of  medium  mental  material. 

(2)  By  trying  to  be  an  authority  upon  some  subject 

other  than  the  one  the  teacher  is  teaching. 

(3)  By  a  study  regime, 
(c)   Spiritual  Surplus. 

(1)  Nature  of  spiritual  life. 

a.  The  spiritual  is  in  contrast  to  the  material. 

fc.  Spiritual  power  projects  the  self  into  the  future. 

c.  The  spiritual  life  is  improved  by  personal  self -direction. 

(2)  Checks  upon  spiritual  life. 

a.  A   weak   and   halting   body   interferes   with    spiritual 

power.     Exception. 

fc.  Any  check  upon  mental  power  checks  spiritual  power. 
c.  The  severest  check  is  found  incident  to  the  teaching 

profession. 

(1)  The  routine  of  school  machinery  may  cloud  the 

teacher's  vision. 

(2)  The   tendency  to   live   in   the  past   according  to 

the  memory  checks  spiritual  life. 

(3)  The  greatest  blight  upon  the  spiritual  life  of  the 

teacher  comes  from  the  development  of  the 
critical  attitude  towards  pupils'  work  and  then 
towards  pupils. 

(3)  Development  of  spiritual  power. 

a.  Spiritual  power  is  dependent  first  upon  the  develop- 
ment of  a  personal  ideal. 

6.  The  second  problem  is  the  development  of  the  means 
of  expressing  spiritual  power. 

(1)  The  graceful  body  and  becoming  clothes. 

(2)  A  pleasing  voice. 

(2)  A  full  and  vital  mind. 
c.  Elements  of  spiritual  power. 

(1)  Intellectual  characteristics  of  a  good  leader, 
(a)   Originality — such  a  mastery  of  subject  matter 
and  method  as  makes  it  unnecessary  to  rely 
upon  books  or  other  persons. 
(Z>)   Insight: 

1.  An  original  view  of  the  other  side  and  inside 

of  the  problem. 

2.  Breadth  of  view — seeing  things  in  their  right 

relations. 

3.  Seeing  things  as  followers  see  them. 


10 


(c)   Good  judgment. 

1.  Judgment  suspended  until  facts  are  "in"; 

insures  against  prejudice. 

2.  Ascribes  right  relative  values  to  facts  and 

relations. 

3.  Good  judgment  is  vital  by  being  immediately 

connected  with  the  will. 

(2)  Volitional  elements  in  a  good  leader. 

(a)  Definiteness  of  purpose.  He  knows  what  he 
is  about,  and  why  he  is  "about"  it. 

(Z>)  Largeness  of  purpose.  Large  enough  to  in- 
clude the  whole  range  of  the  learner's  life. 

(c)  Faith  in  one's  purpose. 

1.  Nature  of  faith. 

a.  Not  an  emotion. 

Z>.  Not  a  form  of  knowledge,  nor  a  substitute 

for  knowledge. 
c.  Faith  is  a  product  of  evolution  developed 

by  action. 

2.  Development  of  faith. 

a.  By  removing  the  checks  to  faith. 

&.  Association  with  persons  engaged  in  the 

successful  pursuit  of  one's  ideals. 
c.  By  an  independent  personal  adventure. 

(d)  Tenacity  of  purpose — making  faith  victorious. 

(3)  Emotional  characteristics  of  a  good  leader. 

(a)  Nature  of  emotions. 

1.  Contrasted  with  intellectual  elements  which 

are  more  or  less  impersonal. 

2.  Contrasted  with  facts  about  other  persons. 

3.  As  an  organizing  principle  of  one's  own  per- 

sonal universe. 

(b)  Essential  emotional  elements. 

1.  Sympathy;    the    ability    and    disposition    to 

apply  the  Golden  Rule. 

2.  Humility:    allegiance   to   what   is   spiritually 

above  us. 

3.  Love:  dispositional  interest  in  persons,  mani- 

festing itself  in  four  emotions. 
a.  Tests. 

(1)   Satisfaction  in 

(x)  Presence  of  loved  one. 
(y)  Success  of  loved  one. 


11 

(2)   Dissatisfaction   in 

(ic)  Absence  of  loved  one. 
(y)  Failure  of  loved  one. 
6.  Principles. 

(1)  As  an  organizing  principle,  love  de- 

determines  the  values  of  other  ele- 
ments. 

(2)  Love  is  a  reciprocal  virtue. 

(3)  Love  atrophies  when  teachers  prize 

scholarship    more    than    the    well- 
being   of   scholars. 

Sympathy,  humility  and  love  are  sumpreme  teaching  virtues.    They  are 
most  stable  and  most  reliable  in  religious  persons. 

V.  Regime. 

1.  There  is  no  necessary  relation  between  information  and  behavior. 

2.  "Knowledge  is  the  instrument  of  successful  action." 

3.  Principles  for  constructing  a  personal  program. 

(a)  Physiological  principles;  laws  of  habit. 

(6)  Psychic  laws;  laws  of  suggestion  and  of  sentiments. 

(c)   Cosmic  law  and  social  usage. 

(1)  Twenty-four  hour  day  routine. 

(2)  Social  customs  based  on  this  routine. 

A  scientific  program  is  secured  by  planning,  scheduling,  and  dispatching. 
CONCLUSION. — A  physiological  day  insures  against  impaired  vitality. 


12 


SELF-IMPROVEMENT   OF  TEACHERS 


I. 
INTRODUCTION 

1.  Teaching  is  a  fine  art.     A  high  degree  of  efficiency  in  this  art  is 
achieved  by  a  high  degree  of  physical,  mental,  and  moral  development. 
Proficiency  is  attained  and  maintained  by  improvement  in  health,  men- 
tality and  personality.     This  monograph  aims  to  bring  together  some  of 
the  more  recent  achievements  of  physiology  and  psychology  that  suggest 
ways  and  means  for  self -improvement. 

2.  Eight  living  is  the  finest  of  the  fine  arts.     Good  teaching  comes 
next  because  it  is  the  most  timely  and  most  efficient  means  to  right  living. 
The  historians  call  architecture,  sculpture,  painting,  music  and  literature 
the  fine  arts.     These  are  fine  arts  because  they  express  the   skill,  the 
thought,  and  the  very  life  of  the  artist.    For  the  same  reason  living  and 
teaching  are  fine  arts.    They  are  finer  because  they  work  upon  the  artist 
with  finer  tools  and  also  because  they  have  at  their  command  all  the  tools 
as  well  as  all  the  products  of  the  other  artists.     The  works  of  the  other 
artists  are  finished  products.     The  paintings  and  the  poems  remain  what 
they  are.    Teaching  is  reproduced  and  multiplied  in  the  lives  of  the  pupils. 
That  is  why  mistakes  in   teaching  are  the  worst  mistakes.     They  are 
reproduced  and  multiplied  in  the  lives  of  the  learners,  and  by  the  same 
law  the  improvement  in  the  teacher  is  an  improvement  in  his  art  and  in 
the  product  of  his  art.' 

3.  (a)  As  a  fine  art,  teaching  is  in  contrast  with  the  industrial  arts. 
Bernard  Shaw  once  said,  " Those  who  can,  do;  those  who  can't,  teach. " 
The  fallacy  lurking  in  this  half-truth  lies  in  contrasting  "doing"  with 
"teaching."    The  real  contrast  is  between  those  working  with  things  and 
those  working  with  persons.     Teaching  is  doing,  but  it  is  done  mostly  by 
fellowship,  and  fellowship  depends  upon  what  teachers  are.     Because  of 
this    interesting    fact,    improvement    in    teaching    is    also    personal    im- 
provement. 

Herbert  Spencer  announced  a  doctrine  current  for  half  a  century 
that  ' '  education  is  preparation  for  complete  living. ' '  Though  this  doctrine 
places  the  emphasis  upon  living,  it  has  done  a  great  deal  of  harm.  It 
has  now  degenerated  into  the  doctrine  that  ' '  education  is  preparation  for 
making  a  living."  The  fallacy  lurking  in  both  these  formulas  lies  in 
separating  education  from  living. 


13 

(ft)  There  can  be  no  difference  of  opinion  concerning  the  importance 
of  training  for  one 's  vocation,  but  there  is  and  ought  to  be  protest  against 
the  doctrine  that  skill  in  a  trade,  or  skill  of  any  kind  for  that  matter, 
is  sufficient  qualification  for  teaching.  It  is  unfortunate  that  the  term 
"vocational  education"  has  been  used  and  applied  chiefly  to  industrial 
education,  since  industrial  education  means  essentially  trade  education. 
This  partial  meaning  of  the  terms  may  be  forgiven  if  it  teaches  us  that 
all  education  worthy  the  name  is  vocational,  provided  we  interpret  voca- 
tion as  a  life  calling  as  well  as  a  calling  to  make  a  living.  Kousseau 
taught  the  correct  doctrine,  "all  education  should  be  vocational."  "We 
are  first  called  to  be  men  and  women,  then  workmen  and  workwomen." 
America  needs  good  character  on  the  part  of  her  workmen  as  much  as 
she  needs  skill.  Because  of  the  shorter  schooling  period  of  most  trade- 
trained  pupils,  and  because  of  the  concentration  of  their  thought  upon 
material  means  and  material  ends,  good  character  is  of  supreme  im- 
portance in  the  trade  courses.  For  this  reason  putting  the  trade  classes 
and  trade  schools  off  by  themselves  is  a  very  short-sighted  policy, 
calculated  to  foster  class  distinctions.  During  the  growing  period  every 
youth  needs  training  of  "hand,  head,  and  heart,"  and  if  economic 
condition  forces  early  emphasis  upon  one  of  these  aspects  of  a  well- 
rounded  life,  this  does  not  justify  giving  the  pupils  poorer  teachers  and 
separating  them  from  the  pupils  doing  other  lines  of  work. 

(c)  A  third  reason  for  stressing  the  personal  worth  of  the  teacher 
and  the  necessity  of  improvement  in  character  is  found  in  the  emphasis 
just  now  being  placed  upon  the  machinery  of  education.  School  machinery 
can  never  lessen  the  necessity  for  improvement  in  the  machinist.  Indeed 
the  improvement  in  the  machinery  increases  the  importance  of  the 
machinist. 

Scales  and  measurements  if  properly  employed  will  do  much  to  elimi- 
nate educational  waste,  but  they  must  not  be  allowed  to  put  skill  above 
character.  The  common  fallacy  in  educational  measurements  lies  in  the 
assumption  that  when  we  have  measured  the  product  we  have  measured 
the  process.  A  pupil  may  exhibit  correct  answers,  or  correct  products, 
and  get  a  perfect  score  on  material  that  has  been  produced  by  wrong 
methods  and  immoral  means.  The  real  and  essential  product  in  education 
cannot  be  measured  by  any  scale  yet  invented.  This  fact  does  not 
lessen  the  importance  of  scales  for  skill. 

The  action  of  a  growing  person  produces  three  results:  (1)  the 
objective  result,  the  finished  product;  (2)  the  physiological  result  in  the 
growing  body;  (3)  the  psychic  result  in  the  growing  mind.  The  relation 
between  these  three  is  more  than  a  mathematical  one.  An  over-emphasis 
of  any  one  of  these  results  produces  a  partial  result,  a  warped  personality. 
The  school  is  not  a  factory.  In  a  democracy,  the  workman  is  certainly 


14 

as  important  as  his  work.  This  principle  applies  to  both  teacher  and 
pupil.  Democracy  is  founded  upon  personality.  Personality  is  a  social 
process  and  a  social  product.  It  is  a  combined  product  of  individual 
choices  multiplied  by  the  number  of  persons  whom  we  carry  in  our 
imaginations  and  \ffections,  multiplied  by  the  expectations  of  those  we 
know  carry  us  in  their  imaginations  and  affections.  It  is  of  supreme 
importance  that  the  children  of  America,  the  children  of  the  world  for 
that  matter,  build  into  their  lives  the  images  and  affections  of  worthy, 
growing  teachers.  As  Irving  Fisher  has  well  said,  "the  world  is  slowly 
coming  to  realize  the  improvability  of  all  living  things."  Education 
is  founded  on  this  fact.  It  includes  the  teacher.  "Thou  that  teachest 
another,  teachest  thou  not  thyself. ' ' 


II. 

MOTIVES  TO  SELF-IMPROVEMENT 

"Of  those  who  start  in  business  for  themselves  at  least  one-third 
sooner  or  later  fail.  They  may  in  their  failure  injure  others  through 
their  inability  to  pay  their  debts.  Or  they  may  merely  lose  the  money, 
the  time,  and  the  energy  which  they  have  staked  in  the  venture.  In 
either  event,  they  have  attempted  and  failed.  We  have  records  only  of 
those  who  are  unable  to  pay  their  debts.  In  this  class,  according  to  the 
analysis  of  Bradstreet's  one-fifth  of  the  failures  are  due  primarily  to 
causes  lying  outside  of  the  individual;  the  other  four-fifths  are  due 
primarily  to  the  man  himself. 

"The  figures  are  calculated  to  make  even  the  most  self-confident 
serious.  But  there  is  worse  behind.  Many  who  succeed  in  making  a 
living  fail  in  life.  Life,  for  them,  turns  out  in  the  end  a  disappointment. 
They  find  it  either  tasteless  or  bitter,  even  though  they  may  .have 
obtained  what  the  world  calls  success.  Naturally  we  have  no  information 
that  enables  us  to  locate  the  responsibility  for  this  class  of  failures. 
The  causes  are  usually  complex;  but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  character 
or  intellect  of  the  individual  himself  is  more  or  less  at  fault  in  the  vast 
majority  of  cases. 

1.  "There  remains  one  thing  more.     Many  who  do  not   fail  in  the 
sense  of  being  crushed  by  an  overwhelming  disaster  fail  in  the   sense 
that  they  get  out  of  themselves  and  their  circumstances  far  less  than 
they  might  have  done.     This  too  is  a  serious  matter;  for  life  is  not  so 
rich  in  resources  that  we  can  afford  to  be  wasteful.    Failure,  in  the  sense 
of  opportunities   missed,   lays   its  blighting  hand   upon  well-nigh   every 

human  life. 

******* 

2.  "Failure,  then,  in  one  sense  or  another,  is  the  great  shadow  upon 
life.    And  the  causes  lie  chiefly — though,  of  course,  far  from  exclusively — 


15 

within  the  individual  himself.  This  does  not  mean  necessarily  that  they 
are  removable.  Some  of  them  are  not.  On  the  other  hand — and  here  is 
the  food  of  hope — many  of  them  are.  Since  all  these  facts  are,  at  least 
in  a  general  way,  well  known,  one  might  suppose  that  he  would  find 
every  one  devoting  a  certain  amount  of  time  and  energy  to  serious 
reflection  upon  life,  its  opportunities,  its  duties,  and  its  dangers,  and  upon 
the  problem  of  his  own  adjustment  to  its  demands. '  '* 

These  figures  concerning  business  failure  probably  do  not  represent 
failure  in  teaching;  but  the  findings  do  represent  many  cases.  "Life" 
for  many  a  teacher  "turns  out  in  the  end  to  be  a  disappointment."  "The 
causes  lie  chiefly  .  .  .  within  the  individual  himself."  Since  these  facts 
are  known  ( '  one  might  suppose  that  he  would  find  every  one  devoting 
a  certain  amount  of  time  and  energy  to  serious  reflection  upon  life,  its 
opportunities,  its  duties,  and  its  dangers,  and  upon  the  problems  of  his 
own  adjustment  to  its  demands." 

(a)  Personal  Motives  for  Self -Improvement. 

"Divine  discontent"  is  the  distinct  characteristic  of  human  beings. 
At  their  best  they  desire  to  be  better.  Self-preservation  is  the  first  law 
of  nature.  Personality  is  a  progressive  principle.  Personal  self-preserva- 
tion must  preserve  this  principle.  Personality  knows  no  neutral  ground. 
Death  sets  in  when  progress  ceases. 

A  skillful,  happy,  and  honored  shoemaker,  when  asked  the  secret  of 
his  happy  life,  replied  that  it  was  in  trying  to  dr^ve  each  peg  a  little 
slicker  than  the  last  one.  One  of  the  joys  of  childhood  which  can  be 
continued  into  age  is  the  pleasure  of  playful  action;  but  playful  action 
in  an  adult  must  be  easy  and  skillful.  A  process  as  complex  and  difficult 
as  teaching  requires  most  extended  training  to  become  easy  and  skillful. 
Teachers  are  privileged  to  pass  on  to  children  the  greatest  and  best 
achievements  of  the  ages.  To  be  able  to  handle  such  material  in  an 
artful  and  successful  manner  ought  to  be  an  end  to  move  any  teacher 
to  continued  efforts  at  self -improvement.  The  teacher,  his  material,  and 
his  methods  offer  unlimited  scope  for  improvement. 

(1)  There  are  three  remunerations  ascribed  to  teaching.    First  comes 
the  personal  satisfaction  from  successful  actions.     To  the  normal  person, 
continued    satisfaction    can    come    only    from    increase    of    power.      The 
sorrow  of  age  comes  from  thinking  that  something  is  slipping  away  from 
us.     Growth  in  skill  and  power  gives  us  a  feeling  of  youth,  and  though 
growth  of  body  stops  we  can  continue  to  grow  in  skill. 

(2)  The  second  remuneration  of  teaching  comes  from  the  gratitude 
and   fellowship   of   those   who   have   been   well   taught.     A   teacher   can 

*  Dr.  Frank  Chapman  Sharp,  in  Bulletin  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin. 


16 

hardly  expect  gratitude  if  he  wastes  the  pupil's  time  and  ability.  This 
gratitude  comes  to  be  a  source  of  power  and  satisfaction  as  students  grow 
into  a  sense  of  their  debt. 

(3)  The  third  remuneration,  the  salary,  is  not  commensurate  with 
the  importance  of  the  task  imposed,  but  it  must  be  admitted  that,  con- 
sidering the  way  the  work  is  done,  compared  to  the  manner  in  which  it 
should  be  done,  most  teachers  get  all  they  are  worth.  Many  of  them 
could  not  earn  more  at  anything  else  they  could  do.  Teachers  who  try 
to  increase  their  earnings  by  doing  insurance,  farming,  etc.,  on  the  side, 
are  dear  at  any  price.  Teachers  who  show  personal  improvement  in 
service  and  profession,  skill  and  power  are  recognized,  and  promoted. 

(6)  The  Professional  Motive. 

(1)  A  sense   of  personal  service  gives  a  purer  and  higher  form   of 
satisfaction  than  personal  improvement.     No  other  service  is  quite  equal 
to  that  given  growing  youth,  because  it  is  to  be  reproduced  and  multiplied. 
"Only  the  best  is  good  enough  for  the  child."     This  requirement  ought 
to  drive  the  lazy  out  of  the  profession.     Others  should  be  inspired  to 
personal  effort  to  improve  their  skill. 

(2)  Professional  Tact. — Tact  is  the  disposition  and  ability  to  apply  a 
general  principle  to  the  particular  case.     This  ability  is  improved  by 
dealing  with  persons;  second,  it  is  improved  in  the  acquisition  of  skill  in 
diagnosing  the  particular  case;  third,  it  is  improved  in  correct  application 
of  the  principle.     This  is  professional  treatment. 

(3)  Professional  'Spirit. — Spirit  is  the  personal  response  the  will  makes 
to  an  ideal.     The  teacher  improves  his  professional  spirit  by  improving 
the  ideal  he  sets  up  for  the  pupil.     Great  possibilities  are  ahead  of  any 
normal  b.oy  and  girl  in  America.   This  thought  brings  us  to  the  particular 
motive  for  the  improvement  of  the  teacher: 

"Only  the  best  is  good  enough  for  the  child." 

The  greatest  assets  of  the  nation  are  the  children.  They  may  become 
the  geatest  liabilities.  The  gains  in  health  and  wealth,  the  achievements 
of  art  and  science,  and  the  progress  in  morals  and  religion  must  be  con- 
served and  perpetuated  through  the  children.  Many  of  the  common 
diseases,  vices,  and  crimes  are  perpetuated  through  the  children.  If  the 
organized  forces  of  evil-doers  were  not  recruited  from  the  ranks  of  the 
children,  organized  evil  would  die  out  in  one  short  generation. 

What  determines  whether  children  be  a  blessing  or  a  cursing?  Th« 
way  they  are  treated.  In  the  present  economic  and  social  order  tht 
school  has  become  the  fundamental  social  institution.  The  common 
and  essential  social  forms  and  social  achievements  are  worked  out  here. 
Here  are  the  conditions  for  that  social  contagion  and  social  stimulus, 
guidance,  and  control  that  in  large  measure  determines  the  character  of 
the  boys  and  girls.  The  teacher  is  the  essential  factor  in  this  process. 


17 

Boys  and  girls  deserve  not  only  the  best  the  individual  teacher  can 
give,  but  the  best  that  can  be  given.  If  declining  interest  or  declining 
vitality,  whether  from  age,  overwork,  or  unhygienic  living,  is  robbing  the 
children  of  their  rightful  inheritance,  then  the  teacher  must  "step  down 
and  out. ' '  Schools  are  maintained  in  the  interest  of  the  children.  They 
deserve  all  the  professional  skill  which  the  teacher  can  possibly  develop. 

(c)  Patriotic  Motives.  »  g 

The  hope  of  the  nation  lies  in  the  children.  The  hope  of  the  children  , 
can  only  be  realized  through  right  social  stimulus  guidance,  and  control.  • 
The  nature  and  needs  of  the  democratic  state  is  a  compelling  motive  for 
any  patriotic  teacher.  The  great  Italian  statesman,  Mazzini,  defined 
democracy  as  "The  progress  of  all  through  all  under  the  leadership  of 
the  wisest  and  best. ' '  Thomas  Jefferson  long  ago  declared  that  the 
freedom  and  perpetuity  of  the  nation  depended  upon  an  intelligent  citi- 
zenship. But  intelligence  proves  not  to  be  enough.  Nothing  short  of 
good  moral  character  in  its  citizenship  can  make  democracy  safe..  A 
nation  that  has  safeguarded  our  liberties  and  has  insured  us  the  oppor- 
tunity to  pursue  the  desirable  things  of  life  deserves  the  best  service 
the  citizen  can  give,  and  what  greater  service  can  be  rendered  than 
safeguarding  and  favoring  the  all-around  development  of  the  children? 

Each  of  these  motives  has  been  accentuated  by  the  world  war.  Never 
were  children  quite  as  important  as  now,  not  to  be  exploited,  but  to 
be  used  as  the  only  hope  of  making  the  world  a  fit  place  to  live  in.  The 
people  of  the  past  have  made  a  terrible  muddle  of  civilization.  There 
is  little  hope  of  making  the  adult  world  over,  but  if  teachers  conceive 
and  believe  in  a  socially  safer  and  more  efficient  world  and  teach  towards 
these  ends  there  is  hope  for  the  future.  To  accomplish  this  great  hope 
will  require  that  most  teachers  will  have  to  be  made  over  in  some  respects. 
In  the  last  analysis,  then,  the  whole  problem  comes  back  to  the  individual 
teacher  and  to  personal  reasons  for  self -improvement. 


III. 

THE  NATURE  AND  NEED  OP  A  VITAL  SURPLUS 

It  would  be  cruel  and  discouraging  to  make  teachers  more  conscious 
of  the  need  of  self -improvement  if  the  ways  and  means  of  such  improve- 
ment were  not  readily  at  hand.  What  teachers  lack  is  not  so  much  the 
desire  for  improvement  as  insight  into  the  laws  of  life  and  the  principles 
of  progress. 

The  conservation  of  any  resource,  natural  or  artificial,  must  be  con- 
ceived and  worked  out  in  terms  of  the  service  to  be  rendered  by  the 
power  to  be  conserved. 


18 

1.  What  Is  the  Fundamental  Service  of  the  Teacher  and  by  What  Qualities 

Is  That  Service  Rendered? 

The  greatest  service  any  teacher  renders  is  to  be  a  sample.  A  sample  s 
is  a  good  example.  This  principle  is  true  of  the  simplest  service  to  be 
rendered.  A  teacher  of  penmanship  to  be  efficient  must  be  a  good  pen- 
man. Since  life  is  the  supreme  concern  of  every  human  being,  the  greatest 
service  a  teacher  can  render  is  to  be  an  example  of  right  living.  This 
.principle  is  also  true  for  the  simplest  service.  The  enthusiasm  and 
inspirational  power  of  a  teacher  is  determined  in  large  measure  by  the 
conception  he  has  of  the  life  service  of  his  daily  work.  The  primary 
inspiration  of  the  pupil  to  go  whole-heartedly  at  a  task  comes  from  the 
contagion  of  a  teacher  who  shows  a  whole-souled  devotion  to  the  subject 
assigned. 


THE  SUPREME  QUALIFICATION  OF  A  GOOD  TEACHER 

(a)  The  qualification  that  makes  good  teaching  possible  and  continu- 
ous is  surplus  vitality — life  abounding.  There  are  three  outstanding 
reasons  why  a  vital  surplus  is  necessary. 

First,  surplus  vitality  is  the  characteristic  of  the  pupil  that  makes 
learning  possible.  In  order  to  sympathize  with  youth  and  in  order  to  be 
an  example  of  vigorous  action  a  teacher  needs  a  surplus.  Improvement 
of  the  learner's  behavior  is  the  purpose  of  teaching.  This  improvement 
in  pupil  and  teacher  alike  is  conditioned  by  surplus  vitality. 

(ft)  The  second  reason  why  a  teacher  needs  abundant  life  is  found  in 
the  fact  that  it  is  a  condition  of  continued  good  character.  { '  The  center 
of  character  is  self-control.  The  center  of  self-control  is  will.  The 
center  of  will  is  attention."  Now  what  has  all  this  to  do  with  the  body? 
Just  this:  The  greatest  cause  of  fatigue  is  attention;  that  is  what  tires 
more  than  anything  else.  It  takes  nervous  energy  to  attend;  and  the 
supreme  condition,  therefore,  of  power  of  attention  so  far  as  the  body  is 
concerned  is  surplus  nervous  energy.  That  is  the  whole  problem. 
Character,  self-control,  will,  attention  ...  its  supreme  physical  condition, 
surplus  nervous  energy."* 

M^ny  of  the  vital  mistakes  in  teaching  and  discipline  are  caused  by 
tired  pupils  and  tired  teachers. 

(c)  The  third  reason  for  conserving  a  surplus  is  found  in  the  character 
of  the  service.  Teaching  is  the  most  complex  service  any  human  being 
undertakes.  Many  of  the  mistakes  in  life  and  in  fact  many  deaths  are 
caused  by  ' 'shock,"  physical,  mental,  or  moral.  Teaching  affords  more 

*  President  Henry  Churchill  King,  "How  to  Make  a  Rational  Fight 
for  Character." 


19 

occasions  for  emergencies  and  for  " shock"  than  any  other  profession. 
Children  may  "break  out"  at  any  time.  Put  thirty-five  to  fifty  boys 
and  girls  together  in  a  room  and  there  is  no  telling  just  what  they  will 
do  or  when  they  will  do  it. 

Teaching  is  a  very  personal  matter  and  by  tradition  is  rather  a 
private  performance,  so  that  the  advent  of  the  superintendent  or  any 
other  supervisor  is  an  occasion  of  embarrassment  if  not  of  shock.  For 
the  same  reason  the  visit  of  parents,  especially  concerning  cases  of 
discipline,  is  most  likely  to  require  more  energy  than  the  routine  work. 

The  teacher's  energy  is  taxed  not  only  by  the  increasing  complexity 
of  the  task,  but  also  by  the  lengthening  time  of  service.  A  generation 
ago  teachers  taught  four  to  six  months  and  then  worked  at  something 
else  during  the  rest  of  the  year.  Since  teaching  is  so  exacting  and 
exhausting,  this  other  work  afforded  an  occasion  for  laying  up  reserve 
power. 

The  increasing  death  rate  among  teachers  need  cause  no  special  alarm. 
The  necessary  length  of  the  school  term  and  the  increasing  demands  of 
the  modern  school  machine  may  be  somewhat  responsible  for  this  increase, 
but  the  increase  in  the  average  age  of  teachers  is  about  enough  to 
account  for  the  new  death  rate  and  for  the  increase  in  sick  leave.  A 
generation  ago  teachers  began  teaching  younger  and  did  not  teach  nearly 
so  long,  so  that  the  average  age  was  much  less. 

There  is  another  important  fact  not  only  of  explanation  but  of  warning. 
A  large  majority  of  the  teachers  were  and  still  are  rural  born.  By 
heredity  they  have  a  body  suited  to  muscular  work  "out  of  doors." 
They  have  been  "in  doors"  from  twelve  to  twenty-five  years  preparing 
to  teach  and  teaching.  By  this  natural  endowment  and  sedentary  experi- 
ence most  teachers  have  developed  unhygienic  ways  of  living  and  even 
atrophied  organs;  but  even  for  these  the  findings  of  Cannon,  Crile, 
Fisher,  et  al,  hold  out  a  pleasing  prospect. 

' '  So  far  as  we  can  compare  vital  and  physical  assets  as  measured  by 
earning  power,  the  vital  assets  are  three  to  five  times  the  physical.  The 
facts  show  that  there  is  as  great  room  for  improvement  in  our  vital 
resources  as  in  our  lands,  waters,  minerals,  and  forest.  This  improvement 
is  possible  in  respect  both  to  the  length  of  life  and  to  freedom  from 
disease  during  life." 

*  *  *  *  *  *  * 

.  .  .  "From  these  data  it  is  found  that  fifteen  years  at  least  could 
be  at  once  added  to  the  average  human  lifetime  by  applying  the  science 
of  preventing  disease." 

"The  world  is  gradually  awakening  to  the  fact  of  its  own  improva- 
bility."  (National  Vitality,  Senate  Document  No.  676;  Vol.  Ill,  Sixtieth 
Congress,  Second  Session.) 


20 

Fisher  is  here  dealing  with  the  negative  aspect  of  self -improvement 
through  improved  environment.  The  positive  power  for  personal  progress 
lies  in  the  organism  and  its  ability  to  adapt  itself  to  an  improved 
environment. 

2.  Reserve  Power. 

The  world  war  caused  unmeasured  suffering  and  sorrow.  But  it  also 
demonstrated  how  much  suffering  and  sorrow  a  human  being  can  endure 
without  giving  up  or  dying.  It  also  demonstrated  the  power  of  human 
beings  to  put  forth  effort  when  moved  by  a  great  purpose  or  emotion. 
All  this  has  revived  a  lively  interest  in  what  William  James  calls  the 
"Powers  of  Men." 

There  had  been  noted  and  recorded  individual  cases  of  phenomenal 
endurance  and  Herculean  power  before  this  war.  These  had  been  supposed 
to  be  exceptional,  to  be  "fortuitous  variation."  Mothers  had  cared  for 
sick  children  for  hours,  even  days,  without  eating  or  sleeping  and  had 
quickly  come  back  to  normal  conditions  when  the f sick  recovered  or  died. 
Under  stress  or  in  danger,  men,  women,  and  children  have  lifted  objects 
and  accomplished  labors  seemingly  impossible.  Inventors  like  Edison, 
artists  like  Michael  Angelo,  and  poets  like  Cowper  have  exhibited  mar- 
velous powers  for  work  and  recuperation. 

James  in  his  essay  on  the  "Powers  of  Men"  suggested  that  human 
beings  in  general  have  reservoirs  of  power  which  they  never  tap  and 
that  there  are  ' '  various  keys  for  unlocking  them  in  various  individuals. ' ' 
He  said  that  "the  man  who  energizes  below  his  normal  maximum,  fails 
just  so  much  to  profit  by  his  chance  at  life;  a  nation  filled  with  such 
men  is  inferior  to  a  nation  run  at  higher  pressure."* 

The  world  war  demonstrated  that  while  men  and  women  and  children 
vary  very  much  in  their  powers  of  endurance  and  power  to  put  forth 
effort,  normal  human  beings  have  these  powers  in  greater  abundance 
than  is  generally  believed.  Groups  of  men,  in  some  cases  whole  com- 
panies, stood  in  freezing  water,  lived  without  food,  and  performed  great 
labors,  and  then  "come  back"  in  a  few  days  under  proper  treatment. 

(fc)  Another  contribution  of  the  war  was  the  discovery  or  rather  the 
corroboration  of  the  discovery  of  the  "keys"  to  unlock  some  of  these 
"reservoirs  of  power."  Two  explanations  have  been  given  to  account 
for  these  extraordinary  phenomena — the  religious  and  the  quasi-scientific. 
(1)  In  many  cases  the  persons  themselves  claimed  that  they  relied  on 
"unseen  powers";  or  "powers  not  themselves";  "on  God";  "on 
prayer."  In  many  other  cases  the  persons  were  not  conscious  of  any 
power  but  themselves  and  believed  that  under  similar  circumstances  they 
could  repeat  the  performance. 

(2)   Science  has  demonstrated  that  all  living  things  have  stored  within 

*  American  Magazine,  November,  1907. 


21 

their  bodies  many  times  the  power  they  normally  employ.  This  power  is 
assumed  as  necessary  for  survival  in  the  struggle  for  existence.  The 
quasi-scientific  explanation  of  all  the  cases  is  that  the  circumstances  of 
the  case  furnishes  the  "key"  that  releases  the  extraordinary  power,  and 
that  the  persons  who  claim  to  be  conscious  of  "powers  not  themselves" 
are  deluded — merely  using  a  "mystical  explanation"  because  they  do 
not  know  the  scientific  one.  Because  of  the  long,  bitter  controversy 
between  theologians  and  scientists  .these  two  explanations  offer  another 
subject  of  controversy.  Both  explanations  are  partial  and  when  the 
whole  situation  is  analyzed  the  two  explanations  are  not  so  far  apart 
as  they  seem.  The  harmonizing  of  the  two  explanations  lies  in  the  term 
' '  circumstances. "  "  Circumstances ' '  means  ' l  standing  around. ' '  Both 
explanations  employ  powers  outside  the  agent.  The  religious  persons 
include  in  the  "'circumstances"  "unseen  persons"  with  which  they 
claim  ' '  communion ' '  and  ' '  fellowship. ' '  The  scientist  admits  powers 
external  to  the  agent,  but  claims  that  a  list  of  the  mechanical  means 
that  stimulate  the  agent  are  all  that  are  necessary  to  explain*  the  case. 

(3)  Fortunately  it  is  unnecessary  to  prejudice  either  side  to  this 
controversy  at  this  level  by  taking  sides.  Whatever  the  factors  in  the 
"circumstances"  surrounding  the  agents  in  these  cases,  the  mechanism 
in  the  agent's  body,  by  which  the  work  is  done  or  pain  endured,  is  the 
same,  and  that  mechanism  is  pretty  well  known,  and  we  are  rapidly 
discovering  ways  of  managing  it.  It  is  admitted  by  all  that  certain 
emotions  precede  the  release  of  power  and  certain  emotional  satisfactions 
accompany  the  recovery.  Both  religionist  and  scientist  are  discovering 
ways,  in  many  cases  more  or  less  uncertain  yet,  of  arousing  these 
emotions,  "and  a  critical  examination  of  the  ways  the  religious  people 
and  the  non-religious  go  about  arousing  these  emotions  suggests  at  least 
that  what  they  think  are  very  grave  differences  are  mostly  differences 
in  terms  and  definitions.  What  is  of  supreme  importance  is,  that  while 
they  are  seemingly  taking  different  routes  they  are  both  learning  to 
arrive.  The  practical  problem  now  centers  around  the  problem  of  emo- 
tional control,  and  an  increasing  number  of  human  beings  are  becoming 
more  interested  in  ways  and  means  of  living  at  their  best  than  they  are 
in  the  theological  or  scientific  theories  of  the  scholastics.  All  this  must 
not  be  taken  to  mean  that  there  are  no  differences  between  the  religious 
and  the  scientific  attitudes.  But  it  does  mean  that  both  attitudes  as 
usually  employed  are  limited,  and  that  many  of  the  seemingly  irrecon- 
cilable differences  are  differences  in  method  of  approach  to  the  problems 
of  life  rather  than  differences  in  essentials  or  in  results. 

The  problem  of  supreme  interest  to  human  beings  who  desire  to 
"energize  themselves"  up  to  their  normal  maximum,  to  employ  James's 
formula,  is  how  to  store  the  reservoirs  of  power  and  how  to  get  the 
"kevs"  that  unlock  them. 


22 


3.  The  Nature  of  a  Vital  Surplus. 

(a)  Surplus  vitality  must  be  secured  and  conserved  according  to  the 
laws  of  life.  Each  person  as  a  vital  complex  is  a  product  of  native 
endowment  and  personal  acquisition.  There  are  certain  elemental  qual- 
ities of  vitality,  longevity,  and  power  of  endurance  that  are  inherited; 
but  these  are  of  no  immediate  or  practical  concern  in  this  connection. 
The  fortunate  individual  who  possesses  these  qualities,  as  natural  en- 
dowment, has  some  advantages.  The  surplus  may  be  more  easily  main- 
tained, but  the  native  endowment  does  not  insure  success.  Whatever 
the  endowment  and  whatever  the  present  attainment  and  ability — barring 
certain  chronic  diseases — each  normal  person  has  their  future  very  much 
-in  their  own  keeping. 

A  person  in  good  health  and  right  mind  enough  to  hold  comfortably 
a  teaching  position  has  enough  present  capital — physical,  mental,  and 
moral — to  make  it  pay  dividends.  For  their  own  sake,  for  the  sake  of 
the  children,  and  in  the  interests  of  the  Nation,  teachers  need  daily 
remind  themselves  that  normal  human  beings  can  be  improved.  This 
is  the  fundamental  implication  of  education.  A  common  error  is  to 
assume  that  this  power  of  improvement  is  limited  to  childhood.  It  is 
not  so  limited.  It  is  true  that  the  ways  and  means  of  improvement 
differ  after  the  years  of  normal  bodily  growth.  It  is  these  principles  of 
personal  power  and  improvement  that  are  now  to  be  set  forth. 

The  biological  foundation  of  surplus  vitality  is  found  in  the  fact  that 
complex  living  organisms  have  a  great  deal  more  power  stored  away  in 
their  bodies  than  they  use  under  normal  conditions.  Evolution  has  allowed 
only  such  organisms  to  survive.  Almost  every  living  organism  is  insured 
against  emergencies. 

There  are  three  great  problems  of  vitality:  (1)  Securing  power,  (2) 
conserving  it,  and  (3)  employing  it.  In  these  processes,  barring  accident, 
lies  the  possibilities  of  length,  breadth,  and  depth  of  life. 

(Z>)  Life  as  a  Harmony  of  Rhythms. — Human  life  at  its  best  is  a 
harmony  of  rhythms. 

This  characteristic  is  no  accident.  Ehythm  is  not  peculiar  to  life, 
though  its  greatest  complexity  is  found  in  living  things.  This  occurs, 
of  course,  because  they  are  composed  of  more  kinds  of  elements  and 
more  complex  chemical  and  vital  combinations  than  is  found  in  inert 
matter.  The  most  complex  molecule  of  inert  matter  is  very  simple  com- 
pared to  the  molecule  of  living  matter.  A  brain  molecule  contains 
hundreds  of  atoms. 

Spencer  has  pointed  out  in  detail  in  his  "First  Principles"  that  all 
motion,  all  movement,  all  progress — all  change  for  that  matter — is 
rhythmical.  In  such  a  world  the  living  organism  that  would  survive 
must  either  fit  into  these  rhythmic  processes  or  successfully  resist  them. 
In  either  ease  the  response  would  turn  out  to  be  rhythmical. 


23 

3.  For  the  purposes  of  understanding  and  favoring  individual  vital 
surplus  we  may  divide  the  life  processes  into  the  "vital  responses  and 
harmonization  of  three  systems. ' '  First,  there  is  the  dynamic  system 
for  accumulating  and  storing  power  and  surplus.  Daily,  every  living 
organism  must  renew  itself  not  only  by  the  vital  process  within  its  own 
organism,  but  must  accumulate  the  supply  from  the  world  other  than 
itself.  This  is  the  problem  of  taking  into  the  body  the  air,  water,  and 
food  by  which  we  are  daily  renewed.  For  us  humans  this  is  essentially 
a  daily  problem.  We  have  to  accommodate  our  routine  life  of  renewal 
to  the  daily  rhythm. 

(1)   The  Dynamic  System. 

a.  The  simplest  example  of  a  harmony  of  life  rhythms  is  found  in  the 
dynamic  system.  The  rhythm  of  which  we  are  most  conscious,  and  the 
one  that  seems  so  essential  and  so  near  to  life  as  to  be  substituted  for  it, 
is  the  heart  beat.  This  is  one  of  the  rhythms  the  good  physician  examines 
to  find  whether  there  is  any  life  disturbance.  Indeed,  this  is  one  of 
the  sources  of  evidence  of  life  and  death.  This  rhythm  is  timed  for 
each  person.  The  heart  beats  50,  60,  72,  80,  100  times  per  minute. 
Under  normal  conditions  within  the  body  and  uniform  conditions  without 
the  heart  keeps  up  this  ' '  timed ' '  number  per  minute.  One  of  the  striking 
phenomena  of  human  life  is  the  practically  uniform  temperature  in  the 
normal  human  body,  and  the  comparatively  small  range  of  variation  in 
the  pulse  beats.  A  second  rhythm  of  which  we  are  all  conscious,  or  at 
least  may  be  at  any  moment,  is  the  breathing  rhythm.  Under  normal 
conditions  this  rhythm  is  also  regular.  A  variation  of  a  few  breaths  per 
minute  is  evidence  of  vital  disturbance.  If  the  disturbance  is  primary 
in  this  rhythm  it  will  soon  affect  and  disturb  the  other  life  rhythms. 
Another  system  of  rhythms  of  which  we  are  very  little  conscious  is  the 
process  of  digestion.  These  movements  have  their  own  vital  rhythm  with 
the  system,  but  we  start  it  and  interrupt  it  several  times  in  the  twenty- 
four  hour  day  by  eating  and  drinking.  The  conception  of  a  Harmony 
of  Ehythm  is  revealed  in  the  more  or  less  fixed  ration  between  these 
different  rhythms.  The  temperature  of  the  body  is  a  rhythm — the  most 
uniform  indeed  of  any.  This  uniformity  is  maintained  by  a  more  or 'less 
fixed  ratio  between  these  other  rhythms.  Your  heart  beats  normally — 
say  seventy-two  times  per  minute.  You  breathe  a  fraction  of  this 
number  of  times.  You  eat  three  times  per  day — sleep  and  wake — work 
and  rest.  The  importance  of  the  life  process  as  a  harmony  of  rhythms 
is  most  evident  in  its  disturbance  and  causes  of  disturbance.  A  disturb- 
ance of  any  one  of  these  regular  life  rhythms  will  soon  disturb  all  the 
others.  The  commonest  cause  of  variation  is  eating  and  drinking.  This 
cause  has  its  normal  limits.  Too  much,  too  little,  or  the  wrong  kind  of 
food  or  drink  not  only  disturbs  the  digestive  rhythms  but  soon  disturbs 


24 

circulation,  respiration,  sleep,  work.     The  patient — why  called  patient? — 
is  sick. 

The  dynamic  system  is  that  system  of  organs  and  processes  by  which 
the  organism  accumulates,  distributes,  and  stores  the  physical  supply  of 
power.  There  are  many  factors  in  the  strength  and  length  of  life.  There 
are  the  natural  inherited  elements  and  acquired  characteristics,  but  what- 
ever one's  hereditary  endowments  may  be  and  whatever  one's  acquisi- 
tions, one's  strength  of  life  each  day  and  length  of  life  in  the  long  run 
is  determined  by  the  harmony  of  these  life  rhythms. 

Z>.  How  Strong  Are  You? — "When  a  person  is  free  from  all  specific 
ailments,  both  serious  and  minor,  he  usually  calls  himself  'well.'  There 
is,  however,  a  vast  difference  between  such  a  'well'  man  and  one  in 
ideally  robust  health.  The  difference  is  one  of  endurance  or  susceptibility 
to  fatigue.  Many  'well'  men  cannot  run  a  block  for  a  street  car  or 
climb  more  than  one  flight  of  stairs  without  feeling  completely  tired  out, 
while  another  'well'  man  will  run  twenty-five  miles  or  climb  the  Matter- 
horn  from  pure  love  of  sport.  The  Swiss  guides,  throughout  the  summer 
seasons,  day  after  day,  spend  their  entire  time  in  climbing.  A  Chinese 
coolie  will  run  for  hours  at  a  stretch.  That  the  world  regards  such  per- 
formances as  'marvelous  feats  of  endurance'  only  shows  how  marvelously 
out  of  training  the  world  as  a  whole  really  is.  In  mental  work  some 
persons  are  unable  to  apply  themselves  more  than  an  hour  at  a  time, 
while  others,  like  Humboldt  or  Mommsen,  can  work  almost  continuously 
through  fifteen  hours  of  the  day. 

******* 

"It  should  be  noted  that  endurance  is  a  quality  quite  distinct  from 
strength.  Strength  is  measured  by  the  utmost  force  a  muscle  can  exert 
once;  endurance  by  the  number  of  times  it  can  repeat  an  exertion 
requiring  a  specified  fraction  of  available  strength  at  the  start.  Thus, 
if  each  one  of  two  men  is  barely  able  to  lift  a  dumb-bell  weighing  100 
pounds,  their  strengths  are  equal,  but  if  one  of  them  can  raise  a  dumb- 
bell weighing  50  pounds  20  times,  while  the  other  can  raise  it  40  times, 
the  latter  may  be  said  to  have  double  the  endurance  of  the  former. 
Another  mode  of  expressing  the  same  thought  is  that  endurance  is 
measured  by  the  slowness  with  which  strength  decreases  through  exertion. 
******* 

"Perhaps  the  most  important  of  the  common  influences  affecting  the 
capacity  to  resist  fatigue  is  physical  exertion.  It  is  well  known  that  a 
man  'in  training'  has  greater  endurance  than  one  who  attempts  exertion 
without  previous  systematic  exercise  or  training.  In  general,  it  may  be 
said  that  a  person  in  the  'pink  of  condition'  is  fit  not  only  for  physical 
but  also  for  mental  exertion.  The  great  majority  of  adults  are  far  from 
being  'in  condition,'  suffering  either  from  lack  of  exercise  or  from  too 


25 

much  exercise.  The  ordinary  man  errs  either  in  one  direction  or  the 
other.  The  brain  worker  lives  too  sedentary  a  life,  while  the  manual 
worker,  through  fatigue  caused  by  long  hours,  is  in  a  continual  state 
of  over-exertion.  Could  these  conditions  be  remedied,  endurance,  as 
measured  by  capacity  to  withstand  prolonged  strains,  might  be  greatly 
increased. 

"Experiments  have  shown  that  physical  endurance  can  be  doubled 
by  dietetic  causes  alone,  or  doubled  by  exercise  alone.  By  both  together 
it  is  not  unlikely  that  it  could  be  tripled  or  quadrupled.  But  when  it 
is  said  that  the  endurance,  or  capacity  for  exertion,  of  the  ordinary 
healthy  man  could  be  thus  multiplied,  it  is  not  meant  that  the  hours 
of  his  daily  work  or  even  his  daily  output  of  work  could  be  increased 
in  such  a  ratio.  What  it  does  mean  is  the  removal  of  the  fatigue  limit, 
a  freer  and  more  buoyant  life,  and  a  visible  increase  in  the  quantity  and 
quality  of  work  per  hour. 

"In  an  ideal  life,  fatigue  would  seldom  be  experienced.  But  in  most 
lives,  unfortunately,  fatigue  is  a  daily  experience.  A  workman  who  gives 
intelligent  and  systematic  care  to  the  body  writes  that  when  after  a 
long  day's  work  the  factory  whistle  blows  at  night  he,  unlike  his  fellows, 
feels  as  fresh  as  when  he  began  work  in  the  morning. ' '  (Irving  Fisher 
in  "National  Vitality.") 

.  A  student  in  bionomics  once  asked  President  Jordan  of  Stanford 
University  whether  the  "big  man"  had  any  advantage  over  the  little 
man  in  the  life  struggle.  Dr.  Jordan  replied  that  it  was  not  a  matter  of 
size  but  of  how  the  man  was  put  together.  The  limit  of  an  individual's 
strength  lies  at  the  weakest  point. "  The  most  interesting  and  most 
important  evidence  on  this  problem  is  found  in  the  phenomena  called 
"shock."  Many  a  surgical  operation  is  reported  successful  and  at  the 
end  ef  the  report  one  often  reads,  "the  patient  died."  This  is  no  con- 
tradiction. The  patient  died  from  "shock."  A  "shock"  causes  a  break 
in  the  life  rhythms.  Those  interested  in  pursuing  this  problem  further 
will  find  Dr.  George  Crile's  book,  "Man  an  Adaptive  Mechanism,"  most 
enlightening. 

c.  How  Long  Will  You  Live? — Barring  accident,  that  also  depends 
upon  how  well  you  are  put  together.  Winship  "the  strong  man"  lifted 
over  a  ton  and  died  in  less  than  a  month.  He  was  strong,  but  just  in 
one  system.  This  very  strength  was  his  undoing  as  an  organism.  One 
of  the  tragedies  of  life,  especially  of  youth,  is  the  attempt  to  keep  on 
strengthening  oneself  at  the  strong  points.  The  practice  of  physical 
education  putting  its  emphasis  upon  legs  and  arms  would  be  most 
amusing  if  it  were  not  so  wrought  with  evil  consequences,  at  least 
negative  consequences.  Strength  of  legs  or  arms  has  very  little  relation 
to  strength  or  length  of  life.  A  kind  of  negative  formula  for  securing 
strength  and  length  of  life  would  be  to  keep  strengthening  the  weak 


26 

points.  The  correct  formula,  however,  is  to  harmonize  and  keep  har- 
monized the  life  rhythms,  not  only  within  the  system  itself,  but  each 
system  with  all  the  others.  It  is  not  enough  to  keep  the  Dynamic  System 
harmonized  within  itself  by  hygienic  eating  and  sleeping  and  exercising, 
though  this  is  the  primary  problem  of  physical  life.  But  the  manner  of 
release  of  power  through  the  "Kinetic  System"  is  a  matter  of  vital 
concern.  In  the  case  of  the  teacher  the  problem  of  supreme  importance 
is  the  end  towards  which  the  released  power  is  directed  through  the 
third  or  Personal  System. 

(2)   The  Kinetic  System. 

a.  This  system  consists  of  the  brain,  the  adrenals,  the  liver,  the 
thyroid  glands,  and  muscles.  ' ( These  organs  bear  the  brunt  of  the  trans- 
formation of  potential  into  kinetic  energy  and  the  neutralization  of  the 
consequent  acid  by-products  in  the  body."  .  .  .  "The  brain  is  the 
initiator  of  response,  being  activated  by  the  environment  within  or  with- 
out the  body;  acting  like  a  storage  battery,  it  contributes  the  initial  spark 
and  impulse  which  drives  the  mechanism.  (&)  The  adrenals  act  as 
oxidizers,  making  possible  the  transformation  of  energy  and  the  neu- 
tralization of  the  resulting  acid  products.  The  liver  is  the  chief  fabricator 
and  storehouse  of  the  carbohydrate  fuel  by  which  muscular  action  and 
heat  are  produced.  The  liver  also  plays  a  large  role  in  the  neutralization 
of  the  acid  products  of  the  transformation  of  energy.  The  muscles  are 
the  engine  or  motor  in  which  is  consummated  the  final  step  in  the  trans- 
formation of  energy  into  heat  or  motion.  The  thyroid,  by  supplying  a 
secretion  which  facilitates  the  passage  of  irons,  would  seem  to  be  the 
organ  of  speed  control,  governing  the  rate  at  which  the  transformation 
of  energy  is  effected. ' '  The  organs  in  this  l '  Kinetic  System ' '  are  inter- 
dependent, (c)  "Emotional  activation — activation  by  worry  and  fear 
particularly — is  as  potent  in  causing  excessive  transformation  of  energy 
and  an  excessive  production  of  acid  by-products  with  consequent  physical 
impairment  as  are  any  other  kinetic  stimuli.  It  is  obvious,  therefore, 
that  the  absence  of  worry  and  fear  may  aid  in  stopping  the  body-wide 
activations  which  lead  to  an  organic  breakdown.  The  therapeutic  value 
of  rest,  of  change  of  scene,  of  diversion  and  the  restorative  powers  of 
happiness  and  success  and  congenial  surroundings  are  thus  explained  in 
terms  of  approximate  physical  value. ' ' 

*  *       '      *  *  *  *  * 

"Fear  without  muscular  activity  showed  the  same  phenomena  of 
exhaustion  and  the  same  uniform  histological  changes  in  the  brain,  the 
adrenals,  and  the  liver  as  were  shown  by  traumatic  injury  under  ether 
or  by  muscular  exertion."  (Crile  in  "Man  an  Adaptive  Mechanism.") 

These  extensive  experiments  of  Crile  demonstrate  that  no  matter 
what  the  cause  of  fatigue,  t.  e.  emotional  disturbance,  shock,  muscular 


27 

exertion  or  poisons,  the  histological  effect  on  the  brain,  adrenals,  and 
liver  is  practically  the  same.  To  quote  again  from  Crile:  "The  stimuli 
of  consciousness  and  the  stimuli  of  injury,  of  fear,  or  of  infection  cause 
fundamental  lesions;  morphia  and  nitrous  oxide  diminish  them;  sleep 
cures  them." 

In  a  general  way,  every  intelligent  person  knows  that  muscles  are 
reservoirs  of  power.  Physiologists  have  pointed  out  how  muscle  tonicity 
depends  upon  nerve  tension.  Nerve  tension,  of  course,  rests  back  upon 
the  metabolism  of  the  nerve  cell.  A  nerve  cell  is  a  veritable  magazine 
of  power.  The  brain  is  another  of  these  reservoirs,  therefore.  What  has 
not  been  known  until  recently  was  the  fact  that  the  liver  was  another 
of  these  reservoirs.  To  Dr.  Crile  and  his  collaborators  belongs  the  credit 
of  discovering  the  mechanism  by  which  reserve  power  is  released. 

It  has  been  known  for  a  long  time  that  there  were  reserves  of  power 
somewhere  in  the  body.  In  general  the  evolutionists,  especially  the 
biologists,  viewed  this  surplus  as  necessary  for  the  emergencies  that 
occur  in  the  struggle  for  existence.  The  kind  and  amount  of  this  reserve 
power  has  been  viewed  as  one  of  the  important  variations  upon  which 
selection  and  survival  depended.  Indeed  this  doctrine  was  the  one  by 
which  German  scientists  justified  the  world  war.  (See  "My  Nights  at 
Headquarters,"  Vernon  Kellogg.) 

The  important  question  raised  by  William  James  was  whether  the 
"keys"  for  unlocking  these  reservoirs  might  not  be  discovered  and  by 
this  discovery  be  put  at  our  disposal  at  will.  James  named  some  of 
these  "keys  which  unlock  hidden  energies  and  stir  men  to  achieve,"  as 
"anger,  war,  duty,  the  temperance  pledge,  despair,  crowd  contagionr 
Christian  science,  conversion,  resistance  of  temptation,  and  other  ex- 
citements, ideas  and  efforts."  (American  Magazine,  November,  1907.) 

The  connection  between  the  reservoirs  of  power  stored  by  the  (1) 
Dynamic  System  of  Bhythms  is  made  with  the  (2)  Kinetic  System,  by 
which  the  power  is  released  by  some  emotion.  Here  we  come  upon  the 
third  system  in  the  makeup  of  a  human  being,  (3)  the  Personal  System. 

(3)   The  Personal  System. 

The  problem  of  personal  power,  especially  the  problem  of  free  will, 
is  an  age-long  battle,  still  raging  in  scholastic  centers,  and  since  the 
whole  scheme  of  self -improvement  herein  set  forth  involves  personal  self- 
control,  it  seems  proper  to  take  account  of  the  controversy  between 
determinists  and  those  who  believe  in  free  will.  The  more  especially 
is  this  important  because  the  experiments  establishing  the  facts  con- 
cerning the  dynamic  and  kinetic  systems  were  made  under  the  assumption 
that  man  is  a  mechanism  and  that  all  the  data  involved  could  be 
statistically  treated  because  they  were  objective  and  could  be  controlled 
mechanically  and  therefore  could  be  measured.  Put  differently,  "the 


28 

personal  equation"  had  to  be  eliminated  to  establish  these  facts,  but 
the  elimination  of  the  personal  equation  from  the  solution  of  these 
mechanistic  problems  forces  the  determinists  to  admit  it  in  considering 
the  whole  scheme  of  human  life.  The  mechanists  excluded  personality 
in  discussing  digestion  and  elimination  of  power  in  the  liver  because 
they  could  induce  these  processes  outside  of  the  human  body  according 
to  mechanistic  principles.  Within  the  body,  however,  "all  the  experi- 
menters admit  an  emotion  as  the  connecting  link  between  the  dynamic 
and  kinetic  systems.  Now  the  problem  arises  whether  this  emotion  or 
"key,"  as  James  called  it,  is  a  personal  factor  and  under  personal 
control  or  a  mere  mechanistic  link  between  two  other  mechanisms,  to 
be  made  active  by  mechanistic  power  external  to  the  agent  experiencing 
the  emotion.  In  short,  from  this  angle,  the  problem  of  personal  power  shifts 
from  the  will  to  the  emotions.  Of  course,  for  the  believers  in  free  will  the 
problem  shifts  back  to  the  will  as  the  cause  of  some  of  the  actions  that 
induce  the  emotions.  The  point  of  controversy  now  concerns  the  nature  of 
the  emotions.  There  is  no  difference  of  opinion  concerning  the  place  and 
function  of  the  emotions  as  a  means  of  ' l  stirring  men  and  women  to 
achieve."  The  difference  of  opinion,  more  seeming  than  real,  arises 
concerning  the  cause  and  nature  of  the  emotion.  Are  these  emotions 
under  personal  control  or  are  they  induced  by  environmental  conditions 
over  which  we  have  no  control?  (a)  Put  bluntly,  is  man  a  machine  or 
a  person?  It  is  certain  he  is  a  machine  in  the  grip  of  forces  that  obey 
all  the  laws  of  mechanics.  The  fallacy  lurking  in  this  question  is  due 
to  a  disease  of  mind  I  have  made  bold  to  give  the  name  ' l  monitis, ' '  the 
belief  that  the  world  is  built  on  a  monistic  principle  and  man  must  be 
either  a  machine  or  a  person,  and  since  man  is  a  machine  he  cannot 
be  a  person  unless  we  make  these  terms  stand  for  the  same  kind  of 
a  thing. 

The  emotions  have  always  been  recognized  as  a  subjective  aspect  of 
experience  and  for  this  reason  had  to  have  a  different  kind  of  treatment 
than  the  intellectual  aspect  referred  to  the  objective  world. 

(2)  For  purposes  of  setting  forth  the  principles  of  self-management 
and  self -improvement,  it  is  unnecessary  to  pursue  this  controversy  any 
further.  Nor  is  it  necessary  here  to  go  into  the  psychology  of  the 
relations  of  the  emotions  to  the  other  aspects  of  experience.  It  is  suf- 
ficient for  practical  purposes  to  know  that  these  emotions  which  make 
the  connecting  link  between  the  dynamic  and  the  kinetic  systems  for 
the  release  of  power  are  by  "objects  in  our  environment,  by  memories, 
by  the  imagination,  and  by  ideals."  "One  may  get  angrier  in  thinking 
over  one's  insult  than  at  the  moment  of  receiving  it;  and  we  may  melt 
more  over  a  mother  who  is  dead  than  we  ever  did  when  she  was  living," 
says  James.  In  short,  the  most  rigid  of  the  mechanists  admits  that  by 
memory  and  imagination  we  can  repeat  an  emotional  experience. 


29 

The  Personal  System  then  is  the  agent  by  which  the  power  released 
by  the  Kinetic  System  is  directed  towards  ends.  Some  of  these  ends 
are  personal,  are  purposes.  Some  of  these  purposes  are  ideals  in  the 
psychological  sense.  That  is,  they  are  ideas  into  which  we  have  already 
thrown  our  wills  and  are  willing  to  continue  doing  so. 

Some  of  these  ideals  stir  our  imagination.  This  stirred  imagination 
brings  up  memories  of  objects  that  have  stimulated  our  impulses.  In 
this  analysis  is  set  forth  the  factors  in  the  shuttle  movement  of  self- 
control  and  self -improvement.  Instinctive  reactions  through  memories 
develop  specific  impulsive  personal  tendencies.  These  impulses  get 
organized  through  the  unifying  power  of  consciousness  about  certain 
individual  interests.  Some  of  these  interests  become  causes  shared  by 
other  persons.  These  causes  develop  sentiments,  the  most  important  of 
which  is  loyalty — "will  and  practical  and  thoroughgoing  devotion  to  a 
cause."  Fortunately  for  teachers,  the  school  affords  all  the  essential 
conditions  for  the  development  of  the  sentiments  that  stir  men  and 
women  to  achieve. 

"Now  on  the  ideational  plane  the  specific  tendencies  which  condition 
the  occurrence  of  emotion  are  incomparably  more  varied  and  complex 
than  the  primary  perceptual  tendencies.  All  the  various  systems  of 
ideas  which  grow  up  in  the  process  of  ideal  construction  of  the  world 
and  of  the  Self  have  their  conative  aspect.  Each  system  of  ideas  is 
a  general  tendency  to  feel  and  act  in  certain  ways  under  certain  circum- 
stances. It  is  convenient  to  have  a  general  name  for  ideal  systems, 
considered  from  this  point  of  view.  It  does  not  appear  that  any  better 
word  can  be  selected  for  the  purpose  than  sentiment,  though  in  so 
employing  it  we  extend  its  application  beyond  the  range  of  ordinary 
usage.  If  we  give  this  extended  application  to  the  word,  we  may  regard 
emotions  which  presuppose  mental  dispositions  organized  through  previous 
trains  of  ideational  activity,  as  episodes  in  the  life-history  of  sentiment. 

"The  credit  of  first  drawing  attention  to  this  distinction  between 
emotion  and  sentiment  belongs  to  Mr.  Shand,  and  we  cannot  do  better 
than  quote  his  words.  Emotions  are  in  a  sense  adjectival,  and  qualify 
a  more  stable  feeling.  Whereas  the  specific  organization  of  our  senti- 
ments— affection  for  our  friends,  the  home-sentiment,  and  every  sentiment 
that  we  can  use  the  term  'love'  to  express,  as  love  of  knowledge,  art, 
goodness,  love  of  comfort;  and  all  our  interests,  as  interest  in  our  health, 
fortune,  and  profession,  interest  in  books,  collections,  self  interest — 
these,  so  far  from  being  mere  adjectives  and  qualifying  other  feelings, 
are  the  relatively  stable  centers  to  which  the  first  attach  themselves,  the 
substantives  of  these  adjectives,  the  complex  wholes  which  contain  in 
their  possible  life-history  the  entire  gamut  of  the  emotions. 

"  'In  the  love  of  an  object  .  .  .  there  is  pleasure  in  presence  and 
desire  in  absence,  hope  or  despondency  in  anticipation,  fear  in  the  ex- 


30 

pectation  of  its  loss,  injury,  or  destruction,  surprise  or  astonishment  in 
its  unexpected  changes,  anger  when  the  course  of  our  interest  is  opposed 
or  frustrated,  elation  when  we  triumph  over  obstacles,  satisfaction  or 
disappointment  in  attaining  our  desire,  regret  in  the  loss,  injury,  or 
destruction  of  the  object,  joy  in  its  restoration  or  improvement,  and 
admiration  for  its  superior  quality  or  excellence.  And  this  series  of 
emotions  occurs,  now  in  one  order,  now  in  another,  in  every  sentiment 
of  love  or  interest,  when  the  appropriate  conditions  are  present. 

"  'Now  consider  how  these  same  emotions  repeat  themselves,  often 
with  opposite  objects,  in  the  life-history  of  every  sentiment  which  we 
name  dislike  or  hatred.  There  is  pain  instead  of  pleasure  in  the 
presence  of  the  object,  desire  to  be  rid  of  it,  to  escape  from  its  presence, 
except  we  can  injure  it  or  lower  its  quality,  hope,  or  despondency  accord- 
ing to  the  chances  of  accomplishing  this  desire,  elation,  or  disappointment 
with  success  or  failure,  anger  or  fear  when  it  is  thrust  upon  us  and 
persists,  surprise  when  the  unexpected  occurs,  regret  or  grief,  not  in  its 
loss  or  injury,  but  in  its  presence  and  prosperous  state.'  "* 

(1)  "One  who   permits  fears,   worries   and   anxieties  to   disturb   the 
digestive  process  when  there  is  nothing  to  be  done  is  evidently  allowing 
the  body  to  go  on  to  what  we  may  regard  as  a  'war  footing'  when  there  is 
no  war  to  be  waged,  no  fighting  or  struggle  to  be  engaged  in."    (Cannon.) 

Cannon  here  speaks  as  if  we  "permit"  these  emotions  to  "disturb  the 
digestive  process ' '  and  implies  that  since  there  is  no  struggle  sufficient 
to  arouse  what  he  terms  "major  emotions"  we  do  not  release  sufficient 
power  to  compensate  for  the  disturbance. 

To  some  not  familiar  with  the  work  recently  done  upon  the  emotions, 
to  speak  of  managing  them  may  seem  foolishness.  Some  scientific  persons 
call  it  ' '  stultifying  the  judgment. ' '  These  persons  are  like  Josh  Billings ' 
scientist  that  "knew  so  much  that  wasn't  so." 

The  emotions  are  the  primary  cause  of  release  of  power.  If  we  may 
command  them  we  may  command  our  reserve  power.  It  may  be  that  our 
"reservoirs  of  power"  are  to  be  tapped  by  emergencies. 

(2)  In  a  very  fundamental  sense,  all  self-control  is  management  of 
the  emotions — and  since  the  emotions  are  the  means  of  releasing  physical 
power,    management    of    the    emotions    becomes    a    problem    of    supreme 
importance. 

(3)  "Emotions  .do  not  have  handles  that  can  be  gotten  hold  of  by 
main    strength,    by    an    act    of    the    will.      You    cannot    attack    them 
subjectively. ' ' 

"A  man  who  is  in  the  dumps  can  say  to  himself,  'Come  now,  brace 
up!  Be  cheerful! '  but  that  will  not  make  him  so.  What  he  can  do  and 

*  Quoted  from  "Character  and  the  Emotions,"  Mind,  N.S.,  No.  18, 
April,  1896,  pp.  217-218;  by  Stout  in  Principles  of  Psychology. 


31 

do  successfully  is  to  make  himself  act  the  way  a  cheerful  man  would 
act,  to  walk  and  talk  the  way  a  cheerful  man  would  walk  and  talk,  and 
to  eat  what  a  cheerful  man  would  eat — and  after  a  time  the  emotions 
slip  into  line  with  his  assumed  attitude.  —  •-..•."  We  can  get  at  worry 
in  exactly  the  same  way. ' ' 

"See  that  all  the  hours  of  the  day  are  so  full  of  interesting  and 
healthful  occupations  that  there  is  no  chance  for  worry  to  stick  its  nose 
in."  (Luther  Gulick,  in  "The  Efficient  Life,"  pp.  30-31.) 

The  emotions,  therefore,  are  controllable,  not  mechanically  nor  directly 
as  we  control  a  machine  or  a  muscle;  not  even  as  we  direct  chains  of 
reasoning,  but  indirectly  through  the  development  of  our  sentiments. 
The  sentiments  are  capable  of  personal  development.  "We  can  quit 
our  meanness."  Sam  Jones  had  the  correct  idea.  In  one  of  his  evangel- 
istic meetings  a  judge  "tried  to  get  religion  by  the  usual  evangelistic 
methods.  He  failed  and  reported  his  failure.  Jones  directed  him  to 
begin  and  act  like  he  thought  a  man  with  religion  would  act.  The  judge 
followed  directions.  Jones  reported  that  within  a  week  the  judge  had 
the  'greatest  case  of  religion  in  Georgia.'  " 

IV. 
CONSERVATION  OP  VITALITY 

1.  Life  is  a  struggle.  The  struggle  for  existence  is  a  fact.  Emergencies 
eliminate  those  who  are  teetering  upon  the  edge  between  deficit  and 
surplus.  Those  with  surplus  survive.  The  world  as  a  whole  and  the 
educational  field  in  particular  presents  a  new  set  of  emergencies.  Add 
to  these  general  emergencies  the  individual  emergencies  of  disease, 
financial  and  social  difficulties  and  the  significance  and  importance  of 
taking  thought  concerning  life  appears. 

(a)   "Life  is  response  to  the  Order  of  Nature." 

(&)  Every  living  organism  is  sensitive  and  responsive  to  the  kinds 
of  forces  that  give  it  its  birth  and  continued  being,  (c)  Human  life  at 
its  best  is  ' l  the  achievement  of  a  perpetual  triumph. ' '  This  triumph 
is  possible  at  three  levels:  physical,  mental,  and  spiritual.  These  three 
aspects  are  organically  related,  but  neither  one  can  be  substituted  for 
the  other.  No  amounfTnor  kind  of  physical  development  will  of  itself 
insure  the  mental  life  necessary  for  teaching.  No  amount  nor  kind  of 
information  or  knowledge  will  of  itself  provide  "the  spirit  of  the 
teacher. ' '  This  is  a  personal  matter,  not  independent  of  bodily  and 
mental  conditions,  but  not  totally  dependent  upon  them.  Conservation 
of  vitality  therefore  consists  of  three  kinds  of  problems:  physical,  mental, 
and  spiritual. 


' 
32 

People  of  America  were  astonished  by  the  number  of  young  men  the 
military  authorities  rejected  as  unfit  for  service  in  the  army.  Over 
against  this  fact  is  the  encouraging  way  the  young  men  responded  to 
the  army  regime.  This  improvement  in  health  and  power  of  endurance 
was  not  limited  to  young  men.  Many  of  the  young  women  put  under  a 
government  regime  were  greatly  improved  in  power  and  efficiency.  Our 
faith  in  the  improvability  of  young  men  and  young  women  is  greatly 
increased.  How  about  those  in  middle  life?  Many  persons  in  middle 
life  accept  their  physical,  mental,  and  moral  condition  or  change  of 
condition  somewhat  as  they  do  the  weather — merely  as  a  topic  of  com- 
plaint or  conversation.  This  is  one  of  the  marks  of  middle  life  and 
senility.  Like  the  weather  a  human  life  at  any  stage  has  its  antecedent 
conditions  and  causes.  Each  person  carries  his  own  history  in  his  being. 
As  history  it  cannot  be  changed,  but  it  can  be  accepted  as  cause  or  as 
means.  We  cannot  undo  what  has  been  done,  but  a  living  person  as 
long  as  really  alive  can  be  made  over.  " Twice  Born  Men"  is  Mr. 
Harold  Begbie's  account  of  spiritual  regeneration.  MacFarlane  describes 
many  cases  of  mental  and  moral  improvement  under  the  title,  "Those 
Who  Have  Come  Back"  (American  Mag.  76).  There  is  an  ever-increasing 
number  of  cases  of  physical  regeneration:  recovery  not  only  from 
disease  but  from  debility  and  physical  inefficiency.  An  examination  of 
a  news  stand  or  a  current  magazine  reveals  the  number  of  persons  and 
number  of  methods  employed  in  the  business  of  physical  self -improvement. 

2.  A  Life  of  Three  Dimensions. 

"Length  of  life  is  but  one  indication  of  vitality.  Everyone  recognizes 
that  the  life  of  a  valitudinarian  or  an  invalid,  however  long,  is  but  a 
narrow  stream.  We  may  therefore  conceive,  besides  the  dimension  of 
length,  another  dimension  of  life  which  may  be  called  its  'breadth/ 
By  breadth  of  life  we  mean  its  healthiness.  Just  as  length  of  life  is 
limited  by  and  opposed  to  mortality  or  death,  so  breadth  of  life  is  limited 
by  and  opposed  to  invalidity  or  illness."  (Irving  Fisher  in  "National 
"  Vitality. ' ') 

»The  teacher  who  has   chosen   to   serve   the  youth   of  the   land   must 
measure  the  depth  of  life  also.     Everyone  recognizes  that  the  age  of 
the  teacher  and  his  health   does  not  measure  his  worth  or  his  success. 
Depth  of  life  means  range  and  depth  of  interest  and  service  and  is 
limited  by  and  opposed  to  failure  to  serve. 

(a)  Length  of  life  depends  upon  the  harmony  of  the  physical  rhythms. 
If  every  organ  of  the  body  co-operated  with  every  other  organ,  and  each 
and  all  successfully  responded  to  each  changing  condition  of  the  environ- 
ment, we  would  have  physical  immortality.  Death  is  essentially  a  break 
between  the  life  rhythms  and  this  break  comes  because  some  organ 
failed  to  adjust  itself  to  conditions  external  to  it,  or  adjusted  itself  in 


33 

such  a  manner  that  the  functions  of  the  organ  were  impaired.  Length 
of  life  is  of  itself  not  desirable  unless  there  is  enough  breadth  to  insure 
some  degree  of  continued  satisfaction. 

(&)  Breadth  of  Life. — Human  life  cannot  be  measured  by  length  of 
days.  Some  persons  live  more  in  a  year  than  others  in  a  whole  lifetime. 
How  is  this  done?  By  breadth  of  interest  and  by  range  of  activities. 

(c)  Depth  of  Life. — Even  breadth  of  life  may  be  desperately  dis- 
appointing unless  it  has  enough  depth  to  give  it  some  stability.  There 
must  be  abundant  abiding  satisfactions.  This  is  the  final  and  fundamental 
test  of  life.  Small  things  can  satisfy  small  minds,  but  not  even  small 
minds  can  be  satisfied  by  ever-changing  conditions.  Some  things  must 
abide  if  life  is  to  be  endured,  much  less  enjoyed. 

What  are  the  things  that  abide?  "Whether  there  be  knowledge, 
etc.,  ...  it  shall  vanish. "  .  .  .  "  and  now  abideth  faith,  hope,  and 
love."  (Paul.) 

By  a  singular  inversion,  depth  of  life  insures  breadth  and  length. 
Abounding  abundant  life  is  necessary  if  we  are  to  meet  the  ever- 
changing  conditions  in  the  teaching  profession.  The  process  is  so  complex 
and  so  many  of  the  factors  are  so  incommensurate  and  seemingly 
intangible  that  a  teacher,  at  least  a  good  teacher,  must  always  be  on 
the  qui  vive  in  order  to  be  able  to  meet  «very  emergency. 

Surplus  vitality  is,  therefore,  the  supreme  insurance  against  the  evil 
day.  Surplus  vitality  is  secured  and  maintained  by  the  same  laws  of 
conservation  by  which  one  maintains  a  bank  surplus,  and  one  needs  it  for 
the  same  reason — to  draw  upon  in  emergencies. 

A  bank  surplus  is  secured  and  maintained  by  making  sure  of  the 
deposits  and  watching  the  checks.  In  life  both  processes  must  be  carried 
on  at  the  same  time. 


(a)  PHYSICAL  SURPLUS 

(1)   Checks  Upon  Physical  Surplus'. 

a.  Many  teachers  have  been  checking  upon  their  physical  vitality 
ever  since  they  began  teaching.  A  rural  ancestry  gave  them  a  good 
balance  to  check  upon,  but  sedentary  habits  and  the  increasing  complexity 
and  demands  of  the  profession  have  left  a  small  margin. 

1).  The  greatest  check  is  unhygienic  living.  The  mechanization  of 
the  school  processes  drives  most  teachers  into  a  daily  routine  in  which 
they  make  little  if  any  provision  for  variation,  relaxation,  and  recreation. 
This  routine  fastens  itself  upon  eating,  sleeping,  and  working  so  much 
that  a  disturbance  of  the  routine  causes  shock,  if  not  an  emergency.  A 
teacher  whose  classroom  routine  usually  runs  like  clockwork  explained 
a  "bad  day"  by  saying  that  she  was  up  late,  arose  late  and  missed  her 


34 

morning  cup  of  coffee.  She  said  she  felt  "all  in,"  which  evidently  meant 
"mostly  out."  Teachers  have  no  right  to  live  so  near  the  edge  between 
deficit  and  surplus  that  missing  a  cup  of  coffee  throws  the  school 
machinery  out  of  gear.  There  are  teachers  so  short  on  vitality  that  a 
north  wind  introduces  much  friction  into  the  school  room. 

c.  Many  teachers  retain  the  rural  appetite  of  their  childhood  and  eat 
meals  more  suited  for  farmers  or  wood  choppers  than  sedentary  workers. 
Too  many  teachers  have  no  homes  and  are  slaves,  incarcerated  in  a 
boarding  house.  School  rooms  and  living  quarters  generally  are  poorly 
ventilated.  Many  teachers  have  quit  playing  both  with  their  bodies 
and  with  their  minds.  In  general,  they  are  a  ' '  very  serious  bunch. ' ' 

(2)   Cultivation  of  Physical  Vitality. 

a.  By  a  singular  fact  of  organic  unity  in  a  person,  the  elimination 
of  some  of  the  checks  to  vitality  is  positive  cultivation  of  surplus,  (&) 
but  there  are  more  positive  ways  and  means  of  making  deposits  in  our 
physiological  banks — the  liver,  the  muscles,  and  the  brain. 

c.  The  general  formula  is  simple  and  not  very  difficult  of  application. 
Call  upon  the  vital  organs  for  a  more  vigorous  activity  than  is  demanded  of 
them  in  the  routine  work.  A  half -century  ago  Dr.  Carpenter  discovered 
and  announced  the  law  of  physiological  transformation.  He  said  "Organs 
grow  to  the  mode  in  which  they' are  exercised."  By  this  interesting  law 
of  self-preservation  the  organs  of  the  body  normally  provide  for  the 
maximum  activity  demanded  of  them.  If  the  maximum  daily  activity  is 
the  daily  routing,  then  a  variation  or  extra  demand  produces  shock  and 
emergencies.  By  calling  upon  the  heart,  lungs,  digestive  organs,  liver, 
and  brain  for  an  activity  more  strenuous  than  that  required  in  the  school 
room  routine  the  teacher  lays  up  a  surplus  against  shock  and  a  supply  for 
emergencies.  To  a  vital  person  few  emergencies  occur. 

(1)  Some  amount  of  muscular  exercise  is  necessary  in  order  to  main- 
tain   what   Angell    calls    "organic    resonance" — that    is,    the    ability   to 
respond  quickly  and  adequately  to   inevitable   changes  in   environment. 
The   amount    of   such   exercise   is   variable,   depending   very   much   upon 
heredity,   the   kind    of   life   lived    during   the   growing   period,    and   the 
balance  or  rhythmic  connection  between  the  different  systems.     The  man 
that  labored  hard  when  a  boy  is  most  likely  to  require  more  exercise  to 
keep  "fit"  than  the  one  that  never  did  heavy  work. 

(2)  A    more    important    requirement    than    the    amount    of    muscular 
activity  is  the  kind  and  quality  of  it.     Muscular  action  must  be  properly 
motivated  and  controlled  to  result  in  power,  otherwise  exercise  results  in 
fatigue.      That    is    why    playful    activity    is    recreative.      The    emotions 
involved  in   the   motive   and   accompanying   the   action   tend   to   induce 
balanced    action.      Such    activity   results   in    reconstruction    rather    than 
destruction.      Muscular    activity    if    enjoyed    insures    and    maintains    a 


35 

surplus,  and  this  surplus  instinctively  arouses  muscular  activity.  This 
is  the  "vital  circle."  Deficit,  and  nervousness  and  restlessness  resulting, 
is  a  vicious  circle,  feeding  on  what  it  produces.  This  vicious  circle  is 
often  induced  by  monotony  and  continued  by  routine  use  of  accessory 
muscles — tatting,  for  example. 

The  fundamental  physical  rhythms  are  exercised  and  developed  by 
the  use  of  the  fundamental  trunk  muscles.  Going  up  and  down  stairs 
can  be  done  by  a  method  that  favors  vitality,  or  it  may  increase  fatigue. 
Whether  vitality  or  fatigue  results  is  more  determined  by  the  mood  and 
and  method  than  by  the  physical  condition  of  the  person.  The  lazy  or 
tired  teacher  who  hates  to  go  up  and  down  stairs  is  likely  to  allow  the 
stairs  to  jar  the  vital  organs  down  below  their  normal  position.  The 
teacher  that  accepts  the  stairs  as  an  opportunity  for  exercise  carries  the 
head  chest  and  vital  organs  well  up  and  secures  strength  instead  of 
fatigue.  Such  a  teacher  substitutes  it  for  mountain  climbing,  one  of 
the  best  exercises  for  developing  lung  capacity. 

A  sedentary  profession  like  teaching  must  be  matched  by  a  play 
and  work  regime  apart  from  the  teaching  routine  if  physical  vitality 
is  to  be  maintained.  It  cannot  be  sufficiently  provided  for  by  week-end 
or  summer  vacations. 

Walking,  if  joyously  motivated,  may  afford  enough  daily  exercise  if 
supplemented  weekly  and  monthly  by  more  strenuous  activity.  Some 
outdoor  avocation  requiring  vigorous  exercise  or  physical  games  affords 
excellent  means  of  "keeping  in  condition."  Some  of  the  "systems  of 
physical  culture ' '  afford  excellent  means  of  a  balanced  regime,  especially 
when  adapted  to  the  individual  by  a  skillful  teacher. 

{ '  There  is  little  use  in  recommending  an  elaborate  system  of  home 
gymnastics.  That  would  be  easy  to  do.  Hundreds  of  them  have  been 
recently  put  on  the  market.  People  often  take  them  up  with  religious 
enthusiasm  and  get  splendid^  results  out  of  them — for  a  time.  But  I 
have  known  few  who  kept  it  up  long.  That  does  not  mean  that  the 
exercise  system  was  at  fault.  It  simply  means  that  it  was  not  calculated 
to  hold  the  interest.  A  man's  enthusiasm  for  dumb-bell  gymnastics  is 
almost  sure  to  wane  after  a  while.  There  is  nothing  to  keep  him  at  it 
excepting  will  power  and  conscience,  and  they  cannot  bear  the  strain 
forever."  (Gulick  in  "The  Efficient  Life.") 

Therefore  one's  daily  regime  must  suggest  and  even  require  a  walk 
or  a  swim  or  work  or  play  enough  to  keep  the  muscles  firm  and  the 
nervous  system  sensitive. 

(3)   GulicTc's  Schedule. 

"The  average  city  business  man  without  any  physical  impediment 
to  fight  against  can  probably  get  along  successfully  on  such  an  exercise 
schedule  as  the  following: 


36 

"(1)  Five  minutes  each  day  of  purely  muscular  exercise,  such  as 
can  be  taken  perfectly  well  in  one 's  room  without  any  special  apparatus. 
Five  minutes  a  day  does  not  put  a  great  tax  on  one's  conscience.  There 
is  every  possibility  of  a  man 's  being  able  to  keep  it  up.  This  is  to  keep 
external  muscles  in  trim. 

t(  (2)  Short  intervals  during  the  day  of  fresh  air,  brisk  walking,  deep 
breathing.  This  can  all  be  secured  in  the  regular  order  of  the  day's 
business.  A  man  can  easily  spend  as  much,  as  half  an  hour  walking  out 
of  doors  every  day.  This  is  for  heart,  lungs,  and  digestion. 

"  (3)  The  reservation  of  at  least  one  day  a  week  for  rest  and  recrea- 
tion, for  being  out  of  doors,  for  playing  games,  etc.  This  is  an  essential. 
This  is  for  both  body  and  mind.  A  man  who  thinks  he  can  get  along 
without  at  least  one  vacation  time  a  week  simply  proves  his  ignorance. 
He  ruins  his  chances  of  doing  really  efficient  work;  for  the  mind  cannot 
concern  itself  all  the  time  with  a  single  subject  and  still  keep  any 
freshness,  spontaneity,  or  initiative.  Such  a  man  makes  a  mere  machine 
of  himself.  He  is  sacrificing  his  personality  and  all  that  it  might  count 
for."  (Gulick  in  "The  Efficient  Life.") 


(Z>)  MENTAL  VITALITY 

Teachers  are  supposed  to  know  more  than  their  pupils.  In  general 
they  do — concerning  some  things — but  this  knowledge  does  not  provide 
the  surplus  mental  vitality  that  insures  the  abundant  life  making  the 
teacher  a  fit  sample  for  impressionable  youth. 

(1)   Checks  to  Mental  Vitality. 

a.  The  first  and  common  check  upon  an  alert  and  growing  mind  is  the 
flabby  physical  condition  so  common  to  the  profession.  This  condition 
expresses  itself  in  lack  of  endurance,  or  sustained  effort  without  frequent 
or  chronic  fatigue. 

"Let  us  now  examine  the  bodily  conditions  to  see  what  fatigue  is 
objectively.  "Physiologically  it  has  been  demonstrated  that  fatigue  is 
accompanied  by  three  sorts  of  changes:  First,  poisons  accumulate  in  the 
blood  and  affect  the  action  of  the  nervous  system,  as  has  been  shown  by 
direct  analysis.  Mosso  .  .  .  selected  two  dogs  as  nearly  alike  as  possible. 
One  he  kept  tied  all  day;  the  other,  he  exercised  until  by  night  it  was 
thoroughly  tired.  Then  he  transfused  the  blood  of  the  tired  animal 
into  the  veins  of  the  rested  one  and  produced  in  him  all  the  signs  of 
fatigue  that  were  shown  by  the  other.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
waste  products  of  the  body  accumulate  in  the  blood  and  interfere  with 
the  action  of  the  nerve  cells  and  muscles.  It  is  probable  that  these 
accumulations  come  as  a  result  of  mental  as  well  as  of  physical  work. 


37 

<l  'A  second  change  in  fatigue  has  been  found  in  the  cell  body  of 
the  neurone.  Hodge  showed  that  the  size  of  the  nucleus  of  the  cell  in 
the  spinal  cord  of  a  bee  diminished  nearly  75  per  cent,  as  a  result  of  the 
day's  activity,  and  that  the  nucleus  became  much  less  solid.  A  third 
change  that  has  been  demonstrated  as  a  result  of  muscular  work  is  the 
accumulation  of  waste  products  in  the  muscle  tissue.  Fatigued  muscles 
contain  considerable  percentages  of  these  products.  That  they  are 
important  factors  in  the  fatigue  process  has  been  shown  by  washing  them 
from  a  fatigued  muscle.  As  a  result  the  muscle  gains  new  capacity  for 
work.  The  experiments  are  performed  on  the  muscles  of  a  frog  that 
have  been  cut  from  the  body  and  fatigued  by  electrical  stimulation. 
When  they  will  no  longer  respond  their  sensitivity  may  be  renewed  by 
washing  them  in  dilute  alcohol  or  in  a  weak  salt  solution  that  will  dissolve 
the  products  of  fatigue.  It  is  probable  that  these  products  stimulate 
the  sense-organs  in  the  muscles  and  thus  give  some  of  the  sensations  of 
fatigue.  Of  these  physical  effects  of  fatigue,  the  accumulation  of  waste 
products  in  the  blood  and  the  effects  upon  the  nerve  cells  are  probably 
common  both  to  mental  and  physical  fatigue.  The  effect  upon  the 
muscles  plays  a  part  in  mental  fatigue  only  so  far  as  all  mental  work 
involves  some  muscular  activity. '  ' '  (Kitson  in  ' '  How  to  Use  Your 
Mind.") 

The  maintenance  of  a  physiologic  surplus  will  insure  one  against 
these  checks.  This  implies  hygienic  eating,  sleeping,  and  exercising, 
with  a  right  timing  of  mental  efforts. 

b.  The  dangerous  check  upon  the  mental  life  of  the  teacher  is  incident 
to  teaching.  Teachers  teach  children  subjects  they  themselves  studied 
years  before.  Such  a  situation  does  not  require  them  to  use  their  minds 
up  to  the  "top  notch."  Compare  the  teacher's  daily  work  with  that 
of  the  other  professions. 

The  lawyer  most  likely  matches  his  wits  with  his  equal  in  the  opposing 
attorney,  also  with  the  judge  and  adults  in  the  jury  box.  Eead  in  the 
American  Magazine,  February,  1919,  how  the  great  trial  lawyer,  John 
B.  Stanchfield,  uses  his  mind. 

With  physicians,  each  case  is  a  new  one.  The  physician  accepts  the 
personal  responsibility  for  the  outcome.  Good  physicians  throw  them- 
selves heartily  into  each  case  and  hold  themselves  responsible  for  em- 
ploying the  most  approved  treatment.  This  explains  why  good  physicians 
have  professional  libraries  far  superior  to  those  possessed  by  most 
teachers  and  also  explains  why  the  circulation  of  medical  journals  is 
much  larger  than  that  of  educational  journals,  though  there  are  many 
more  teachers  than  physicians. 

Good  ministers  of  the  gospel  try  to  do  their  best  in  each  case,  because 
they  cater  to  adults,  many  of  them  better  informed  upon  many  matters 
than  the  ministers  are  themselves.  They  must  also  dispense  new  material. 


38 

The  average  teacher,  and  the  average  is  in  the  majority,  deals  in  the 
same  old  wares,  most  of  them  "second-hand." 

In  short,  the  experienced  teacher  is  not  forced  to  work  his  wits  to  the 
limit.  He  can  live  on  his  past  by  working  his  memory.  This  is  why 
so  many  teachers  get  into  an  intellectual  and  professional  rut.  This 
dealing  with  children  and  teaching  the  same  subjects  in  the  same  grade, 
along  with  the  amount  of  details  now  forced  upon  teachers,  accounts 
for  the  mental  dry  rot  in  the  profession. 

c.  Another  source  of  lack  of  mental  vitality  is  the  school  machinery. 
Eoutine,  slavish  routine,  is  the  characteristic  of  most  school  machines. 
Monotony  is  deadly  to  the  stream  of  consciousness.  Freedom  is  dangerous 
to  the  tired  teacher,  so  his  work  must  be  prescribed.  Here  we  have 
a  vicious  circle,  limiting  the  professional  freedom  that  encourages 
initiative  and  personal  development. 

As  school  means  and  processes  are  now  mechanized,  what  can  be 
done  by  the  average  teacher  to  vitalize  mental  life? 

(2)   Cultivation  of  Mental  Vitality. 

We  can  do  no  better  than  to  turn  to  the  statement  by  Professor 
James,  whose  wise  remarks  upon  the  subject  have  not  been  improved 
Jipon: 

a.  "The  physiological  study  of  mental  conditions  is  thus  the  most 
powerful  ally  of  hortatory  ethics.  The  hell  to  be  endured  hereafter,  of 
which  theology  tells,  is  no  worse  than  the  hell  we  make  for  ourselves 
in  this  world  by  habitually  fashioning  our  characters  in  the  wrong  way. 
Could  the  young  but  realize  how  soon  they  will  become  mere  walking 
bundles  of  habits,  they  would  give  more  heed  to  their  conduct  while  in 
the  plastic  state.  "We  are  spinning  our  own  fates,  good  or  evil,  and 
never  to  be  undone.  Every  smallest  stroke  of  virtue  or  of  vice  leaves 
its  never-so-little  scar.  The  drunken  Eip  Van  Winkle,  in  Jefferson's 
play,  excuses  himself  for  every  fresh  dereliction  by  saying,  'I  won't 
count  this  time.'  Well!  He  may  not  count  it  and  a  kind  heaven  may 
not  count  it;  but  it  is  being  counted  none  the  less.  Down  among  his 
nerve-cells  and  fibers  the  molecules  are  counting  it,  registering  it,  and 
storing  it  up  to  be  used  against  him  when  the  next  temptation  comes. 
Nothing  we  ever  do  is,  in  strict  scientific  literalness,  wiped  out.  Of 
course  this  has  its  good  side  as  well  as  its  bad  one.  As  we  become 
permanent  drunkards  by  so  many  drinks,  so  we  become  saints  in  the 
moral,  and  authorities  and  experts  in  the  practical  and  scientific  spheres, 
by  so  many  separate  acts  and  hours  of  work.  But  let  no  youth  have 
any  anxiety  about  the  upshot  of  his  education,  whatever  the  line  of  it 
may  be.  If  he  keep  faithfully  busy  each  hour  of  the  working  day,  he 
may  safely  leave  the  final  result  to  itself.  He  can  with  perfect  certainty 
count  on  waking  up  some  fine  morning  to  find  himself  one  of  the  com- 


39 

petent  ones  of  his  generation  in  whatever  pursuit  he  has  singled  out. 
Silently,  between  all  the  details  of  his  business,  the  power  of  judging  in 
all  that  class  of  matter  will  have  built  itself  up  within  him  as  a  possession 
that  will  never  pass  away.  Young  people  should  know  the  truth  of  this 
in  advance.  The  ignorance  of  it  has  probably  engendered  more  dis- 
couragement and  faint-heartedness  in  youths  embarking  on  arduous 
careers  than  all  other  causes  put  together. ' ' 

(1)  First  of  all,  tone  up  muscles  and  nerves  by  the  physical  regime 
suited  to  particular  needs.  Second,  pump  more  oxygen  into  the  blood. 
This  is  best  done  unconsciously  by  work  or  play;  but  it  can  be  done 
consciously  in  a  few  minutes  outdoors  or  at  a  window  by  long  forced 
breathing.  Look  after  the  ventilation  in  working  and  sleeping  quarters; 
but  all  this  will  not  insure  mental  surplus.  It  merely  provides  the 
antecedent  conditions. 

b.  The  mental  dry  rot  incident  to  teaching  routine  must  be  avoided 
by  mental  growth.  Only  dead  things  rot.  Live  things  grow.  They  grow 
by  feeding  and  exercise.  Strength  and  growth  does  not  depend  so  much 
on  what  we  eat  as  upon  what  we  assimilate.  What  we  assimilate  is 
determined  very  much  by  what  we  do.  The  muscle  worker's  body  sends 
the  assimilated  food  to  the  muscles.  The  mind  worker's  body  sends 
assimilated  food  to  the  brain.  In  a  very  real  and  a  very  important 
sense  teachers  ought  to  be  all  things — all  good  things  to  all  pupils — to 
all  good  pupils.  This  requirement  demands  a  selected  bill  of  mental 
fare.  The  ordinary  magazine  offers  too  varied  a  bill.  Most  of  them  are 
just  ' '  nicknacks. ' '  Eead  a  magazine  an  hour  and  you  have  jumped  like 
a  jumping-jack  over  seventeen  topics  and  gotten  nowhere. 

(1)  Why  teachers  will  be  satisfied  by  medium  mental  material  when 
fellowship  with  the  masters  is  possible,  costs  no  more  money,  and  takes 
no  more  time  can  only  be  explained  by  a  bad  or  undeveloped  taste,  or 
ignorance  of  who  the  masters  are. 

(2)  One  of  the  great  teachers  in  my  experience  was  great  because 
alive   and  growing.     It  was   his   practice   to   inform   himself   each   year 
concerning  some  human  interest.     He  was  a  teacher  of  physiology.     One 
year  he  studied  electric  lights;  another  year  he  studied  Christian  Science. 
When  asked  why  he  studied  subjects  so  seemingly  foreign  to  his  own 
teaching   subject,   he   replied:    "I   am   a   teacher   of    students.      I   don't 
know  students  nor  know  how  to  sympathize  with  them  if  I  am  not  one 
myself.     Then  I  must  keep  the  cobwebs  out  of  my  own  head  and  keep 
out  of  a  rut."     Here  is  an  example  of  the  correct  principle.     However, 
to    strictly    follow    this   particular    example    might    result    in    failure    or 
might  cause  mental  indigestion  or  dyspepsia. 

(3)  What  to  Study. — Consult  and  detect  if  possible  your  own  intel- 
lectual appetite  and  hunger.     This  is  purely  a  personal  diagnosis.     The 
wisest   teacher   or   most   efficient   student   cannot   prescribe   your   mental 


40 

menu.  Pawlow's  experiments  show  that  appetite  is  the  first  condition  of 
digestion.  Action  has  much  to  do  with  determining  the  assimilation  of 
what  is  digested. 

Live  teachers  are  students.  They  have  not  only  full  minds  but  minds 
active  and  strong.  They  have  the  power  of  sustained  attention.  Atten- 
tion can  be  sustained  only  by  sustained  interest.  Interest  is  sustained 
by  a  great  and  abiding  purpose.  In  this  respect  teachers  have  every 
advantage.  The  most  interesting  things  in  the  world  are  human  beings 
and  of  all  human  beings  children,  young  men,  and  young  women  are 
the  most  interesting.  They  are  great  puzzles  and  also  great  possibilities. 

The  individual  pupils  make  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  most 
profitable  subjects  of  study.  This  is  most  efficiently  done  by  a  private 
card  catalogue.  Keep  on  the  front  card  favorable  comment.  On  the 
reverse  keep  the  criticisms.  These  cards  are  not  only  efficient  means 
of  keeping  up  the  study,  they  are  means  of  making  just  judgments  about 
pupils.  Now  that  teachers  handle  or  try  to  handle  (note  the  word 
handle)  so  many  pupils,  it  often  happens  that  a  single  experience  with  a 
pupil,  especially  an  unpleasant  one,  becomes  the  determining  factor 
in  judging  the  pupil.  A  reference  to  the  cards  might  guard  against 
prejudice. 

The  sane  procedure  in  study  is  to  follow  personal  interest.  It  is  the 
surest  to  succeed.  This  principle,  while  sane,  must  be  safeguarded  at 
one  point.  Interest  and  effort  sometimes  get  in  a  rut  and,  as  Booker  T. 
Washington  said,  they  must  lift  themselves  out.  Because  of  the  nature 
of  his  work  the  teacher  must  have  a  many-sided  interest  and  a  sure 
evidence  of  rut  and  rot  is  a  persistent  impulse  to  do  only  one  kind  of 
study  or  one  kind  of  thing  in  leisure  hours. 

Interest  in  child  study,  in  psychology,  in  sociology,  in  any  of  the  lines 
of  study  of  life  is  evidence  of  teaching  vitality. 

Breadth  and  variation  of  interest,  of  course,  suggest  lines  of  reading 
and  study  other  than  those  immediately  associated  with  one's  trade,  and 
yet  the  pragmatic  attitude  is  the  only  efficient  one  for  a  teacher.  The 
motive  for  a  teacher's  study  is  to  solve  some  problem.  The  more  per- 
sistent and  pressing  the  problem  the  more  vitalizing  will  be  the  study. 
An  efficient  way  is  to  keep  a  list  of  problems  for  which  one  desires 
data  and  light. 

Unfortunately  for  the  teachers  of  the  present  era,  study  has  meant 
essentially  holding  one's  face  up  to  a  book.  School  aims  and  school 
processes  have  stimulated  very  little  the  creative  aspect  of  personality. 
Most  pupils  and  most  teachers  deal  in  second-hand  wares.  There  is  need 
for  a  professional  declaration  of  independence.  Jefferson  produced  the 
political  declaration.  Emerson,  the  intellectual  declaration  in  the  Ameri- 
can Scholar.  America  needs  a  professional  prophet  who  will  announce 
the  principles  and  processes  by  which  American  teachers  may  achieve 


41 

their  independence  and  become  citizens  of  the  world  to  lead  the  youth 
of  America  into  their  spiritual  inheritance. 

Teachers  who  have  undertaken  to  produce  texts  or  school  aids  have 
become  not  only  better  teachers  but  better  citizens.  Unfortunately  most 
teachers  who  have  tried  such  production  have  been  so  limited  in  time 
and  means  that  they  have  needed  to  follow  traditions  and  the  rules  of 
the  book  companies.  One  of  the  lines  of  professional  emancipation  will 
be  the  provisions  for  teachers  to  produce  their  own  material  for  student 
direction.  What  a  stimulus  to  spontaneous  activity  and  originality  would 
be  furnished  if  the  aids  to  pupils'  study  were  produced  by  their  own 
teachers.  (See  Syndicate  of  Kesearch  in  Jan.  Sierra  Educational  News.) 

Of  all  workmen,  of  all  artists,  the  teacher  is  most  fortunately 
situated.  He  has  three  great  purposes:  (1)  Human  welfare  of  his 
student;  (2)  the  increase  and  dissemination  of  knowledge;  and  (3)  better- 
ment of  society  and  the  state.  Not  only  so — the  achievement  of  the 
greatest  minds  in  science,  art,  and  religion  are  the  possible  materials 
of  his  trade. 

It  is  not  want  but  wealth  of  material  that  is  embarrassing.  The 
study  of  human  beings,  the  study  of  human  achievements,  and  the  human 
needs  offer  three  fields  of  study  of  wonderful  range  of  interest  and  all 
of  service  in  the  profession. 


(c)  SPIRITUAL  SURPLUS 

(1)  a.  In  these  practical  times,  or  what  is  probably  better  described 
as  a  materialistically  minded  age,  the  terms  spirit  and  spiritual  have 
uncertain  and  doubtful  meanings.  They  stand  for  notions  that  are  in 
contrast  with  notions  of  matter,  and  for  this  reason  they  are  sometimes 
treated  as  if  they  stood  for  fancies  if  not  phantasies,  belonging  to  the 
world  of  unrealities.  The  world  war  and  the  triumph  of  right  over 
might,  or  democracy  as  a  form  of  idealism,  brings  back  a  certain  amount 
of  respect  for  that  aspect  of  the  world  and  reality  that  is  in  contrast  with 
matter.  Still  there  are  certain  small  minds  that  think  one  or  the  other 
is  and  the  other  is  not.  The  new  synthesis  needed  is  the  getting  of  right 
and  might,  of  spirit  and  matter,  into  right  relation  to  one  another.  •  They 
are  both  realities  and  both  tangible,  but  not  grasped  by  the  same  fingers. 
Spiritual  things  are  spiritually  discerned. 

T).  Employing  the  life  formula  formerly  used  the  spiritual  life  may 
be  described  as  the  response  the  will  makes  to  an  ideal  order.  It  is 
just  this  characteristic  of  responding  to  an  ideal  order  that  gives  spiritual 
things  their  seeming  unreality.  The  "ideal  order"  of  each  person  is 
not  only  real  but  very  potent  in  determining  behavior.  It  is  not 
only  what  we  have  been  but  also  what  we  hope  to  be  that  enters  into 
our  behavior.  To  be,  a  teacher  must  be  an  idealist.  He  must  project 


42 

himself  and  his  pupil  into  the  future.  Here  we  come  upon  the  final  and 
fundamental  principle  that  not  only  distinguished  teachers  but  the  one 
that  determines  their  pleasure  and  power  in  their  work. 

c.  There  is  another  fallacy  concerning  the  nature  of  spirit.  Many  who 
believe  in  it  and  employ  it,  believe  that  it  is  a  "  given ' ' — some  say  ' '  God 
given" — not  subject  to  cultivation.  They  say  " teachers  are  born,  not 
made."  They  are  half  right,  but  half  right  is  wrong.  Teachers  are 
born,  but  they  are  also  made,  and  this  power  to  respond  to  an  ideal  is 
just  as  much  capable  of  direction  and  cultivation  as  any  other  power. 
It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  here  is  not  only  the  store-house  of  power 
but  the  great  cause  of  self -improvement. 

(2)   Checks  Upon  Spiritual  Life. 

a.  A  weak  and  halting  person  cannot  put  much  spirit  into  anything. 
Muscles  are  not  spiritual  things,  but  they  are  indispensable  means  of 
spiritual  processes  in  a  world  like  ours.  For  ages  the  heart  has  been 
a  symbol  of  spiritual  power.  It  is  a  superb  muscle.  Muscular  power  is 
a  factor  in  the  heart  a  workman  puts  into  his  work.  A  check  to  health 
or  strength  is  a  check  to  spiritual  power,  and  yet  this  very  check  has 
led  many  a  person  to  the  exercise  and  development  of  the  spiritual.  As 
human  beings  are  constituted,  it  seems  natural  to  rely  upon  what  seems 
to  be  nearest  at  hand.  All  life  relies  on  inherent  power.  The  persons 
who  think  they  have  muscle  power  or  brain  power  or  money  power 
instinctively  rely  on  these  means.  It  turns  out  then  that  both  lack  of 
physical  power  or  reliance  upon  it  may  be  a  check  upon  the  spiritual 
life.  This  is  because  the  spiritual  life  is  self -active  and  self-determined. 

ft.  Any  check  upon  mental  power  is  a  check  upon  spiritual  power. 
Spiritual  power  depends  directly  upon  one's  ideals.  Ideals  cannot  live 
in  a  vacuum.  They  are  created  and  maintained  in  accordance  with  mental 
laws.  Spirit  is  creative.  Monotony  or  "standing  still"  is  destructive. 

c.  The  severest  checks  upon  the  spiritual  life  of  the  teacher  is  incident 
to  the  profession.  Teaching  may  degenerate  into  a  mechanical  process. 
Spiritual  is  in  contrast  to  mechanical.  The  mechanical  processes  of 
education  are  for  the  purpose  of  freeing  the  pupils  so  that  they  may 
have  time  and  energy  for  the  development  of  the  spiritual  life.  As 
schools  are  now  administered  it  is  easy  for  teachers  to  degenerate  into 
drill  masters  instead  of  being  master  minds.  A  second  check  to  the 
spirit  incident  to  teaching  is  the  fact  that  teachers  deal  with  the 
immature.  Spirit  must  be  creative  and  must  do  its  best  in  order  to 
maintain  its  power.  As  pointed  out  under  mental  surplus,  teachers  may 
drop  back  upon  the  employment  of  the  memory.  Now  the  memory 
employed  in  school  work  is  more  mechanical  than  spiritual.  The  third 
and  greatest  check  to  spiritual  development  in  a  teacher  is  the  seeming 
necessity  of  always  taking  the  critical  attitude.  Pupils  "make  mistakes." 
These  ' '  mistakes  ought  to  be  corrected. ' '  There  is  a  persistent  school 


43 

master's  tradition  that  these  mistakes  must  be  pointed  out  and  marked. 
This  habit  of  mind  fastens  itself  upon  most  teachers  so  that  they  spend 
much  time  looking  for  mistakes.  If  this  method  corrected  these  mistakes 
where  they  are  made  there  might  be  some  excuse  for  enduring  this 
blight  on  spiritual  life.  But  these  red  marks  and  grades  on  work  done 
usually  does  very  little  to  correct  the  process  in  the  learner 's  mind.  About 
all  it  does  in  most  cases  is  appease  the  ignorant  conscience  of  the 
teacher.  The  teacher  finds  the  mistake.  Mistakes  ought  not  to  be.  Most 
teachers  don't  know  anything  else  to  do  with  mistakes,  so  they  mark 
and  grade.  This  process  is  degrading  both  to  teacher  and  pupil.  "An 
ounce  of  prevention  is  worth  a  ton  of  cure."  If  teachers  spent  as  much 
time  in  preventing  mistakes  as  they  have  spent  in  marking  and  grading 
them  there  would  be  few  mistakes  to  mark. 

Correct  motivation  and  grading  of  school  processes  will  work  upon 
the  pupil's  mind  and  body  in  constructive  ways  and  prevent  many  of 
the  errors  teachers  force  upon  the  immature,  by  using  the  methods  and 
standard  of  the  mature.  This  is  no  plea  for  ' '  soft  pedagogy. ' '  Pupils 
make  entirely  too  many  mistakes,  but  the  solution  lies  not  in  increasing 
destructive  criticism,  but  in  a  new  educational  philosophy  and  method. 
If  properly  taught  few  pupils  would  misspell  words.  By  foolish  methods 
we  try  to  have  growing  children  try  to  reproduce  by  sound  machinery 
a  written  language  that  is  not  phonetically  constructed,  and  then  criticize 
and  blame  them.  This  is  compounding  mistakes  both  of  the  teacher  and 
pupil,  and  the  worst  of  it  is  that  it  takes  the  spirit  out  of  spelling,  out 
of  the  pupil,  and  out  of  the  teacher. 

This  critical  attitude  focuses  attention  upon  error,  upon  the  negative 
aspect  of  behavior  and  life,  and  dims  the  vision  of  the  positive  purposes 
that  make  life  worth  living.  • 

"Where  there  is  no  vision  the  people  perish."  Whatever  interferes 
with  the  teacher's  vision  of  the  meaning  of  life  at  its  best  subtracts 
from  the  teacher  the  ability  to  know  and  employ  the  most  efficient 
means  and  methods  of  education. 

(3)   The  Development  of  Spiritual  Power. 

a.  "And  they  said  one  to  another,  'Did  not  our  heart  burn  within 
us,  while  he  talked  with  us  by  the  way?'  "  (Jesus'  Disciples.) 

"And  when  they  came  out  of  his  class  room,  their  faces  shone  as 
if  they  had  seen  the  light. ' ' 

"I  have  read  that  those  who  listened  to  Lord  Chatham  felt  that  there 
was  something  finer  in  the  man  than  anything  which  he  said."  .  .  . 

"We  cannot  find  the  smallest  part  of  the  weight  of  Washington,  in 
the  narrative  of  his  exploits." 

' '  This  inequality  of  the  reputation  to  the  works  or  the  anecdotes 
is  not  accounted  for  by  saying  that  the  reverberation  is  longer  than  the 
thunderclap;  but  somewhat  resided  in  these  men  which  begot  an  expecta- 


44 

tion  that  outran  all  their  performance.  The  largest  part  of  their 
power  was  latent.  This  is  that  which  we  call  character — a  reserved  force 
which  acts  directly  by  presence,  and  without  means.  It  is  conceived  of 
as  a  certain  undemonstrable  force,  a  familiar  or  genius,  by  whose  im- 
pulses the  man  is  guided,  but  whose  counsels  he  cannot  impart;  which 
is  company  for  him,  so  that  such  men  are  often  solitary,  or  if  they 
chance  to  be  social,  do  not  need  society,  but  can  entertain  themselves 
very  well  alone.  The  purest  literary  talent  appears  at  one  time  great, 
at  another  time  small,  but  character  is  of  a  stellar  and  undiminishable 
greatness.  What  others  effect  by  talent  or  by  eloquence  this  man  accom- 
plishes by  some  magnetism.  'Half  his  strength  he  put  not  forth.'  His 
victories  are  by  demonstration  of  superiority,  and  not  by  crossing  of 
bayonets."* 

"By  all  means  let  us  exhaust  the  full  resources  of  the  physical 
method,  but  at  the  same  time  let  us  avail  ourselves  of  the  spiritual. 
After  all,  the  spiritual  relation  of  the  brain  cells  is  as  big  a  thing  and 
as  important  as  their  chemistry.  Iron  and  strychnine,  phosphorus  and 
Indian  hemp  are  very  potent  remedies;  but  as  also  are  fear,  doubt,  hope, 
confidence,  interest,  enthusiasm.  Moral  causes  overturn  many  a  mind 
and  brain,  and  moral  causes  may  restore  them."  (Clinical  Studies  in 
Vice  and  Insanity;  George  E.  Wilson,  M.D. ;  p.  126.) 

But  it  is  easier  to  buy  the  strychnine  and  administer  it  than  to  get 
1 '  hope  "  or  "  enthusiasm. ' ' 

We  have  arrived  at  the  source  and  center  of  teaching  power — "by 
presences,"  as  Emerson  said.  A  good  body,  a  fund  of  information,  and 
knowledge  of  professional  ways  and  means  are  all  means.  Their  power 
depends  upon  the  character  of  the  person  that  employs  them,  and  the 
heart  of  character  is  the  ideal  the  person  has  created  and  cherishes. 
The  spiritual  life  is  the  response  the  will  makes  to  an  ideal  order.  This 
ideal  order  is  of  our  own  making. 

fc.  The  Cultivation  of  the  Means  for  Expressing  Spiritual  Power. — There 
are  persons  who  pride  themselves  on  being  "practical,"  that  "damn 
the  people  of  vision"  with  faint  praise  by  calling  them  "idealists"  or 
' '  dreamers. ' '  They  say,  ' '  That  is  good  in  theory,  but  it  doesn  't  work  out 
in  practice. ' '  Such  statements  are  prima  facie  evidence  of  ignorance 
of  the  nature  of  the  human  mind  and  human  life.  The  fundamental 
characteristic  of  human  beings  distinguishing  them  from  other  animals 
is  this  power  to  idealize;  the  power  to  project  the  self  into  the  future. 
This  projecting  the  self  into  the  future  is  theorizing,  and  the  test  of 
the  goodness  of  a  theory,  is  that  it  does  work  out  in  practice.  Theory 
and  practice  must  support  one  another  if  progress  is  to  be  made.  They 
work  somewhat  as  our  two  feet.  Each  must  support  the  other  until  it 


*  Emerson  in  ' '  Character. 


45 

is  brought  forward.  The  cultivation  of  spiritual  power  implies  not  only 
the  clarifying  of  the  vision  but  also  the  development  of  the  means  of 
expressing  it.  The  teacher  may  well  "hitch  his  wagon  to  a  star,"  but 
he  must  keep  the  wheels  on  the  ground  or  the  load  will  be  spilled.  The 
teacher's  wagon  must  have  long  couplings.  Effective  teaching  standards 
do  not  drive  pupils  out  of  the  class  or  out  of  the  school. 

The  means  through  which  the  teacher  expresses  spiritual  power  are 
the  body  and  its  movements,  the  clothes,  the  voic£,  language,  and 
thoughts.. 

The  large  teacher  has  an  advantage  provided  the  body  is  beautifully 
proportioned  and  the  movements  are  graceful.  Let  us  include  in  beautiful 
proportions  more  than  the  relative  size  of  parts.  As  a  means  of  expression, 
it  is  a  problem  of  carriage,  and  carriage  is  capable  of  improvement. 

As  James  has  pointed  out,  clothes  are  a  part  of  the  self.  The  person 
has  put  the  self  into  them;  they  express  the  person's  choice  of  color, 
style,  and  care.  All  these  aspects  of  clothing  are  subject  to  change,  and 
in  many  cases  are  subjects  for  improvement.  Not  only  music  but  the 
voice  "hath  charms  to  soothe."  A  pleasant  voice  is  a  great  asset.  It 
is  the  most  effective  as  well  as  the  most  used  instrument  of  teaching. 
Hiram  Corson's  "The  Voice  and  Spiritual  Education"  should  have  a 
place  in  every  teacher's  library.  Corson  says:  "The  organs  of  speech 
can  be  brought  by  intelligent  training  into  a  complete  obedience  to  the 
will  and  feelings;  and  without  this  obedience  of  his  vocal  organs,  a 
reader,  whatever  be  his  other  qualifications,  cannot  do  his  best.  He  is 
in  the  position  of  a  musical  performer  who  has  sympathetically  assimi- 
lated the  composition  he  is  rendering,  but  whose  instrument  is  badly  out 
of  tune.  A  reader  may  have  the  fullest  possible  appreciation  of  the 
subject  matter,  intellectual  and  spiritual,  of  a  poem,  and  a  susceptibility 
to  all  the  subtlest  elements  of  effect  evolved  in  its  form;  but  if  he  have 
not  full  control  of  his  vocal  faculties,  he  can  but  imperfectly  reveal 
through  his  voice  his  appreciation  and  susceptibility.  This  control  can 
be  secured  only  by  long  and  intelligent  training.  The  voices,  generally, 
of  even  the  most  cultivated  people  have  gone  more  or  less  astray,  and  need 
to  be  brought  back  from  the  error  of  their  ways."  The  improvement  of 
language  and  thought  ought  to  go  along  together.  This  is  the  problem 
of  "Mental  Surplus,"  previously  treated. 

The  body,  the  clothes,  the  voice,  the  language,  and  even  the  thoughts 
themselves  are  but  means  by  which  the  spirit  expresses  itself  and 
accomplishes  its  purposes.  The  normal  ideal  for  anyone  is  visioned  in 
a  social  situation.  The  spirit  is  the  most  central  and  most  personal  part 
of  us,  but  it  does  not  live  in  a  vacuum.  It  thrives  only  in  a  social 
atmosphere.  That  is  why  democracy  affords  the  best  possible  conditions 
for  both  individual  and  social  progress.  Mazzini  defined  democracy  as 
"progress  of  all  through  all  under  the  leadership  of  the  wisest  and  the 


46 

best."  The  human  spirit  has  its  greatest  development  when  it  is 
exercising  leadership.  It  is  multiplied  by  all  that  follow.  Teaching  at 
its  best  is  spiritual  leadership. 

c.  The  Elements  of  Spiritual  Power. — (1)  Intellectual  factors  in  a  good 
leader:  (a)  Originality;  (&)  insight ;  (c)  good  judgment. 

(a)  Originality. — Spirit,  being  personal  and  creative,  can  refer  neither 
its  ideas  nor  its  ideals  nor  its  acts  to  another.  Originality  does  not 
mean  eccentricity.  It  means  essentially  originating  in  one's  self;  not 
referred  to  another.  The  original  teacher  has  so  mastered  the  subject 
matter  and  the  method  demanded  in  teaching  the  subject  that  his  teaching 
is  a  living  expression  of  his  very  being.  When  a  book  or  outline  or  any 
other  means  stands  between  the  teacher  and  his  pupils  the  teacher  ceases 
to  be  original.  He  becomes  a  mechanical  means.  Originality  in  the 
sense  here  defined  is  the  first  element  in  a  spiritual  surplus.  The  discovery 
and  development  of  originality  is  inspiring  (i.  e.,  breathing  in  the  spirit) 
because  it  is  accompanied  by  consciousness  of  being  a  cause.  The  capacity 
for  originality  is  not  unique.  It  is  inherent  in  every  person.  It  is  the 
personal  power:  first,  to  appropriate,  to  assimilate,  to  make  one's  own 
the  essential  experiences  of  other  human  beings;  second,  it  is  the  ability 
and  disposition  to  act  on  one's  own  initiative  and  to  accept  the  con- 
sequences of  the  act. 

How  is  originality  developed?  By  producing.  "In  God's  name 
produce!  Produce  something!"  said  Carlyle,  School  machinery  aad 
the  second-hand  goods  which  are  used  as  subject  matter  in  most  schools 
are  not  favorable  to  originality.  Teachers  must  so  master  the  subjects 
which  they  teach  and  the  method  by  which  they  teach  them  that  the 
pupils  feel  that  the  teacher  is  an  inspired  source  of  information.  In 
the  fine  arts,  imitation  is  suicide.  Good  tables,  good  chairs,  good  tools 
may  be  made  over  a  pattern;  good  teaching  must  be  original. 

(&)  Insight. — The  second  element  of  spiritual  leadership  is  insight. 
A  person  might  be  original  in  small  and  foolish  ways.  It  is  of  the 
nature  of  spirit  to  penetrate  into  the  essence  of  things.  A  person  of 
insight  views  the  other  side,  and  the  inside  of  things.  That  is  the  way 
insight  is  cultivated.  As  originality  is  in  contrast  with  the  mechanical, 
so  insight  is  in  contrast  with  the  superficial.  (1)  Insight  is  first  original, 
then  personal,  and  finally  fundamental.  (2)  Insight  implies  breadth  of 
view.  The  person  with  insight  sees  not  only  the  other  side  and  the 
inside  of  things,  but  sees  the  things  themselves  in  their  different  and 
relative  values.  This  power  makes  the  teacher  a  leader  because  he  sees 
the  thing  the  way  it  is,  and  he  sees  also  the  way  it  seems  to  the  pupil. 

(c)  Good  Judgment. — The  third  intellectual  factor  qualifying  the 
teacher  to  be  a  leader  is  good  judgment.  Originality  and  insight  wait 
on  good  judgment  to  apply  them  to  the  problems  at  hand.  Good  judgment 
is  a  rare  virtue.  It  is  more  akin  to  wisdom  than  to  knowledge.  There 


47 

can  be  no  good  judgment  without  information,  but  information  does  not 
insure  good  judgment.  Good  judgment  is  a  very  useful,  a  wonderfully  prac- 
tical virtue,  but  it  is  so  as  a  spiritual  quality — a  kind  of  personal  disposition 
to  solve  problems  in  terms  of  the  conditions  as  they  present  themselves. 
This  power  is  akin  to  sagacity,  which  James  defines  as  "the  perception 
of  essence."  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  good  judgment  is  a  rare  virtue 
and  is  all  that  is  claimed  by  it  and  for  it,  it  is  a  virtue  capable  of  much 
development  and  improvement. 

Elements  of  Good  Judgment. — (1)  Good  judgment  is  never  a  prejudice. 
The  suspended  judgment  must  not  be  confused  with  hesitation  and  inde- 
cision. A  person  of  good  judgment  knows  what  he  is  about.  His  goodness 
of  judgment  is  displayed  by  his  search  for  materials  by  which  to  reach  a 
just  conclusion.  (2)  A  second  quality  of  good  judgment  is  the  ascribing 
of  right  relative  values  to  facts — the  ability  to  perceive  the  ' '  thinghood ' ' 
of  the  thing.  "Not  merely  sees  the  thing  before  his  eyes,  but  sees  what 
parts  the  thing  is  composed  of. ' '  This  rare  power  is  cultivated  by  viewing 
things  in  relation  to  their  purposes.  (3)  The  one  quality  of  good  judgment 
that  determines  the  value  of  the  other  elements  is  vitality.  This  power 
is  secured  and  maintained  by  acting  upon  our  judgments.  This  is  the 
quality  of  good  judgment  that  justifies  describing  it  as  spiritual. 

(2)  Volitional  Elements  in  a  Good  Leader. — (a)  Definiteness  of  pur- 
pose; (&)  largeness  of  purpose;  (c)  faith  in  one's  purpose;  (d)  tenacity 
of  purpose. 

(a)  Definiteness  of  Purpose. — The  intellectual  elements  in  our  spiritual 
makeup  are  after  all  only  means  to  be  employed  in  the  interests  of  our 
personal  purposes.     As   Dewey  says,   ' '  Knowledge  is  the  instrument  of 
successful  action. ' '    The  core  of  any  and  every  personality  is  to  be  found 
in  personal  purposes.     Mere  power  is  of  little  use.     It  must  be  directed 
to  ends — then  it  is  work  and  gets  work  done.     Definiteness  of  purpose  is 
the  first   volitional   element   in   spiritual   effectiveness.     Until   a  teacher 
knows  what  he  is  about  and  can  focalize  his  powers  of  personality  upon 
his  problems  he  is  a  mere  mechanic,  trifling  with  the  tools  of  a  great  art. 
Because  spirit  is  response  to  an  ideal  order,  and  ideals  are  often  thought 
of  as  vague  and  indefinite,  some  teachers  with  the  best  of  intentions, 
yet  refuse,  or  at  least  neglect,  to  define  their  aims.    They  are  like  Huxley 's 
cab  driver,  ' '  They  do  not  know  where  they  are  going,  but  they  are  driving 
like  Jehu!" 

(b)  Largeness  of  Purpose. — Small  people  are  small  mostly  because  of 
the  smallness  of  their  purposes.     Small  purposes  can  be  realized  by  small 
means — but  real  teaching  cannot  thus  be  realized.     The  purpose  of  the 
teacher  must  be  large  enough  to  encompass  the  whole  range  of  the  pupil 's 
interests  and  life.     Educational  purposes  must  be  large  enough  in  the 
mind  of  the  teacher  to  require  the  greatest  achievements  of  the  race  as 
the  means  of  achieving  the  purposes  he  holds  in  mind  as  he  teaches. 


48 

(c)  Faith  in  One's  Purpose. — This  is  the  central  force  in  personal 
power.  The  term  faith,  like  the  term  spirit,  has  been  used  to  stand  for  so 
many  different  and  doubtful  things  that  to  use  it  prejudices  the  one  who 
needs  it  most.  Since  this  prejudice  is  founded  upon  ignorance,  probably 
it  is  just  as  well  that  those  who  pride  themselves  upon  their  scientific 
procedure  come  to  know  what  modern  physiologists  and  psychologists 
have  discovered  in  the  realm  of  faith. 

These  discoveries  have  an  added  interest  for  Americans.  It  was  an 
American  who  discovered  the  physiological  effects  of  fear  and  faith.  It 
was  William  James  who  wrote  "The  Will  to  Believe"  and  rescued  faith 
from  the  wreck  the  scholastics  had  made  of  it.  Dr.  George  Crile  is  a 
mechanist  with  never  the  faintest  hint  of  any  mysticism  in  him.  He  is  a 
real  scientist.  In  his  work,  "Man  an  Adaptive  Mechanism,"  he  says: 
"If  emotion,  particularly  fear,  causes  such  far-reaching  metabolic  dis- 
turbances, why  does  it  not  produce  even  more  baleful  consequences? 
Indeed,  why  has  not  emotion  wrecked  the  race?  Is  it  because  there  are 
now  certain  agencies  at  work  in  society  which  hold  in  check  this 'harmful 
tendency,  as  immunity  and  phagocytosis  protect  the  organism  against 
bacterial  menace,  and  as  the  custom  of  wearing  clothes  and  building 
houses  is  a  protection  from  the  dangers  of  wind  and  cold  and  hostile 
strangers?" 

"Has  there  been  evolved  in  man  some  counter-adaptation  which 
provides  a  partial  protection  against  self-destruction  fro'm  the  too  long 
retained  motor  adaptation  which  we  term  'emotion'? 

"In  attempting  to  find  an  answer  to  these  questions  we  are  led  to 
contemplate  the  fact  that  physical  benefit  is  derived  from  those  factors 
in  life,  which  solace  and  reassure  the  mind,  which  'rejuvenate  the  spirit,/ 
which  dispel  worry,  and  which  substitute  faith  and  tranquility  for  turmoil 
and  terror.  Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  explain  the  universal 
desire  for  joy  and  recreation,  for  entertainment,  for  diversion,  for  any 
activity  or  mental  influence,  which  changes  the  integration,  '  diverts 
attention'  from  work  at  hand,  supplies  a  new  field  of  interest,  or  closes 
the  mind  to  all  interest.  It  would  seem  that  a  key  to  these  phenomena 
might  be  found  in  the  very  fact  that  emotion  has  the  power  to  harm 
the  organism.  On  the  principle  that  fear  causes  the  dissipation  and 
faith  the  conservation  of  potential  energy,  we  can  understand  the  far- 
reaching  and  abiding  benefits  of  religion  in  all  ages,  among  all  peoples, 
throughout  the  whole  human  race,  as  far  back  as  we  have  any  record. 
We  can  understand  the  power  of  prayer  and  of  belief  in  a  Supreme  Being 
who  is  also  Eedeemer  and  Solace,  to  put  'new  life'  into  the  discouraged 
and  faint-hearted,  and  its  overwhelming  influence  for  good  upon  the 
weak,  oppressed  and  sick-at-heart.  We  can  understand  the  power  of 
so-called  'faith  cures';  of  beliefs  in  fetishes  and  charms;  even  of  the 


49 

faith  in  one 's  own  physician,  which  undoubtedly  plays  a  part  in  the 
successful  outcome  of  most  therapeutic  measures. 

"This  principle  explains  the  striking  benefits  in  all  situations  in  life 
of  good  luck  and  success,  of  cheerful  and  optimistic  friends,  of  congenial 
occupations,  associates,  and  surroundings.  It  explains  the  spectacular, 
successful  careers  of  certain  personalities  abounding  in  health,  optimism 
and  self-confidence,  the  value  of  self-confidence  in  business,  and  the 
wreckage  of  hopes  and  fortune  which  often  attends  the  lack  of  these 
qualities. 

"Since  whatever  dispels  worry  and  uncertainty  helps  to  stop  the 
body-wide  activation  which  leads  to  lesions  as  truly  physical  as  'a 
fracture,  we  can  understand  the  therapeutic  significance  of  the  admoni- 
tions to  'take  a  vacation,'  'go  abroad,'  'go  fishing';  to  do  anything 
that  will  give  a  change  of  scene  and  occupation.  On  this  basis  we  can 
understand  the  desperate  tendency  of  certain  sorely  driven  organisms 
to  seek  forgetfulness  in  alcohol  or  narcotic  drugs;  of  others,  driven 
beyond  the  point  of  endurance,  to  settle  their  problems  finally  by  suicide. 

"Eealizing  that  sedentary  occupations,  like  suppressed  emotion,  pro- 
duce an  accumulation  of  harmful  products  in  the  blood  stream,  we  can 
understand  the  good  feeling  that  follows  a  lively  game,  a  long  walk,  or 
exercise  in  the  open  air  after  working  hours,  since  by  these  means  is 
accomplished  the  elimination,  by  oxidation  or  otherwise,  of  much  of  the 
superimposed  burden.  We  can  understand  the  overwhelming  desire  in 
time  of  anger  or  worry  to  'walk  it  off'  or  to  'talk  it  out'  with  some- 
body. We  can  understand  the  value  to  the  physician  of  psychic  analysis, 
since  it  enables  him  to  get  at  the  root  of  his  patient's  troubles  and  to 
elicit  a  full  confession,  which,  in  itself,  brings  a  measure  of  relief. 

"The  fact  the  lesions  wrought  by  suppressed  integrations  to  activity 
are  largely  the  same  for  other  animals  as  for  man  explains  why  the 
fettered  wild  animal  'pines  away'  and  dies  in  captivity,  or  grows  'ugly' 
or  'vicious';  and  why,  when  released  to  liberty  and  its  natural  environ- 
ment, it  quickly  shows  a  return  to  health  and  good  nature.  Considering 
this  tendency  of  the  kinetic  or  dynamic  organism  to  be  destroyed  by  its 
own  adaptive  mechanism  it  is  easy  to  see  why  certain  adynamic  species, 
such  as  the  turtle  or  the  elephant,  survive  longer  than  animals  evolved 
for  intense  kinetic  activity,  such  as  the  deer  and  the  rabbit;  why, 
generally  speaking,  the  expectancy  of  life  is  greater  for  placid  individuals 
than  for  those  of  an  'explosive'  temperament;  why  the  calm  adynamic 
philosopher  outlasts  the  dynamic  ironworker,  who,  through  excessive 
exertion,  breaks  early  a  link  in  his  vital  chain;  why  the  timid  individual 
who  thinks  his  life  is  threatened  by  trivial  incidents,  and  hence  avoids 
risk  and  responsibility,  outlasts  the  strenuous  and  careless-of-self  indi- 
vidual who  goes  on  the  rocks  just  past  middle  life. ' ' 

"Thus  innumerable  phenomena  of  life  may  be  interpreted  by  applying 


50 

this  principle  of  the  antithetic  actions  of  fear  and  faith;  phenomena 
not  only  of  the  life  of  the  individual  but  of  the  life  of  the  race  at  large, 
as  manifested  in  its  past  history,  in  political  situations  of  today,  in 
family  life;  phenomena  which  prove  invariably  that  the  unconscious 
processes  and  the  passive  modifications  of  the  structure  itself  are  but 
evidence  of  nature's  mode  of  securing  survival  for  the  species.  The 
processes  of  'reason'  and  'instinct,'  like  the  'protective  muscular  re- 
flexes,' the  pain  areas,  the  phenomena  of  "phagocytosis,  immunity  and 
blood  clotting,  are  merely  examples  of  the  working  of  the  system  which 
secures  'survival  of  the  fittest.'  In  thus  placing  faith,  hope,  and  charity 
on  the  same  plane  with  muscular  reflexes,  in  their  power  to  conserve 
the  life  of  the  race,  we  but  give  them  their  proper  place  in  evolution 
as  adaptations  which  have  arisen  coincidently  with  the  need  for  such 
modifications.  And,  furthermore,  we  place  them  on  the  same  plane  with 
another  'conscious'  but  no  less  automatically  evolved  adaptation  by 
means  of  which  the  energy  of  the  individual  is  concerned — the  applica- 
tion of  the  principle  of  anoci-association  in  surgery. 

"Whatever  weakens  or  breaks  the  integration  of  the  body  at  the 
brain  link  breaks  the  continuity  of  the  kinetic  chain  and  diminishes  the 
expenditure  of  energy,  and  to  that  extent  is  a  conserver  of  life.  The 
technique  of  anoci-association  was  the  outgrowth  of  a  study  of  nature's 
methods  of  adaptation.  It  does  not  seem  too  much  to  expect  that  a 
further  study  along  the  same  lines  may  lead  to  a  further  understanding 
of  the  relations  of  fear  and  faith  to  the  laws  of  life,  as  a  result  of 
which,  through  education  and  training,  the  principle  of  faith  may  fulfill 
as  useful  a  role  in  the  clinic  of  life  as  is  fulfilled  in  the  clinic  of  surgery 
by  anoci-association."  (Crile's  "Man,  an  Adaptive  Mechanism.") 

Faith  has  the  physiological  effects  here  cited.  Crile,  in  placing 
faith,  hope,  and  charity  on  the  same  plane  with  muscular  reflexes  in 
their  power  to  conserve  the  life  of  the  race,  justifies  doing  all  we  can 
to  develop  them,  but  the  "life  of  the  race"  includes  factors  not  on  the 
same  plane  with  muscular  reflexes.  These  reflexes  rest  back  upon  the 
past.  The  distinctive  power  of  faith  is  exhibited  by  projecting  the  self 
into  the  future.  After  examining  the  phenomena  of  faith  from  this 
angle,  Martensen  with  abundant  examples  and  evidence  concludes  that 
' '  faith  is  a  living  commencement  which  contains  within  itself  the  pos- 
sibility of  a  progressive  development  and  a  fulfillment  of  the  vocation 
of  man."  It  is  this  power  to  "commence"  and  continue  to  realize 
ideals  that  has  brought  to  their  present  development  all  the  sciences 
and  arts. 

But  it  is  not  the  definition  of  faith,  but  the  development  of  it,  that 
is  sought.  Singularly  enough,  though  faith  is  so  much  a  matter  of 
personal  control,  one  does  not  need  to  have  correct  views  concerning  its 
nature  in  order  to  have  a  measure  of  development.  Somewhat  like  diges- 


51 

tion,  it  takes  very  good  care  of  itself  under  proper  conditions;  but,  also 
like  digestion,  it  can  be  hindered  and  defeated  by  not  complying  with 
these  conditions.  Society  in  general  and  schools  in  particular  are  so 
artificial  that  spiritual  hygiene  and  sanitation  are  becoming  more  and 
more  important. 

When  Beecher  said  that  whether  life  was  worth  living  depended 
upon  the  liver  he  came  nearer  .to  stating  a  scientific  fact  than  he  knew. 
Faith  has  physiological  conditions.  Purposes  are  not  purposes  until 
conceived  in  terms  of  means.  The  means  for  realizing  purposes  are 
personal.  One  of  these  means  is  enough  muscular  power  and  nerve 
reserve  to  have  sustained  attention.  Again  we  are  driven  back  to  the 
importance  of  good  health. 

Attention  is  an  intellectual  process  as  well  as  a  muscular  one.  The 
plans  for  realizing  large  purposes  employ  all  the  mental  equipment  and 
mental  power  at  one's  command.  Though  faith  is  fundamental  and 
central,  it  cannot  function  effectively  without  enough  muscular  and 
mental  power  to  keep  it  from  degenerating  into  a  pious  wish. 

2.  Development  of  Faith. — In  addition  to  supplying  what  might  be 
called  the  negative  condition  for  the  development  of  faith,  there  are 
positive  ways  and  means  for  making  faith  victorious.  Faith  has  con- 
ditions, but  it  is  a  cause.  It  develops  by  use.  But  even  faith  cannot 
lift  itself  by  pulling  at  its  own  boot-straps.  It  must  have  a  fulcrum 
for  its  lever.  It  must  have  one  .of  its  feet  grounded  in  fact.  But  some 
of  its  facts  are  its  own  product.  This  is  the  case  of  warm  purposes.  As 
James  says  in  "The  Will  to  Believe": 

"A  social  organism  of  any  sort  whatever,  large  or  small,  is  what 
it  is  because  each  member  proceeds  to  his  own  duty  with  a  trust  that 
the  other  members  will  simultaneously  do  theirs.  Wherever  a  desired 
result  is  achieved  by  the  co-operation  of  many  independent  persons,  its 
existence  as  a  fact  is  a  pure  consequence  of  the  precursive  faith  in  one 
another  of  those  immediately  concerned.  A  government,  an  army,  a 
commercial  system,  a  ship,  a  college,  an  athletic  team — all  exist  on  this 
condition,  without  which  is  nothing  achieved,  but  nothing  is  even 
attempted.  A  whole  train  of  passengers  (individually  brave  enough) 
will  be  looted  by  a  few  highwaymen,  simply  because  the  latter  can 
count  on  one  another,  while  each  passenger  fears  that  if  he  makes  a 
movement  of  resistance  he  will  be  shot  before  anyone  else  backs  him 
up.  If  we  believed  that  the  whole  car  full  would  rise  at  once  with  us 
we  should  each  severally  rise  and  train-robbing  would  never  even  be 
attempted.  There  are,  then,  cases  where  a  fact  cannot  come  at  all 
unless  a  preliminary  faith  exists  in  its  coming.  And  where  faith  in  a  fact 
can  help  create  the  fact  that  would  be  an  insane  logic  which  should  say 
that  faith  running  ahead  of  scientific  evidence  is  the  'lowest  kind  of 
immorality'  into  which  a  thinking  being  can  fall.  Yet  such  is  the  logic 


52 

by  which  our  scientific  absolutists  pretend  to  regulate  our  lives!" 
(Pages  26-27.) 

As  already  pointed  out,  personal  ideals  always  have  their  setting  in 
social  situations.  Personal  purposes,  if  they  have  any  largeness  at  all, 
are  within  a  social  organism.  This  fact  is  what  justifies  Home's  con- 
clusion that  "Faith  in  one's  purpose  solicits  the  aid  of  others  in  its 
execution,"  but  these  others  dare  not  force  the  issue.  This  is  the 
inherent  wickedness  of  autocracy.  It  produces  slavery.  "A  slave  is 
one  whose  act  expresses  the  will  of  another,"  said  Plato. 

Pupils,  Teachers,  Principals,  Superintendents,  Boards  of  Education — 
all  with  capital  letters — what  possibilities  for  slavery!  What  oppor- 
tunities for  free,  co-operation  and  democracy — "The  progress  of  all, 
through  all,  under  the  leadership  of  the  wisest  and  the  best. ' ' 

Faith  is  not  an  emotion,  though  it  has  emotional  elements  in  its 
makeup.  It  is  not  a  kind  of  knowledge  nor  a  substitute  for  knowledge, 
but  at  its  best  it  employs  the  knowledge  available.  It  is  "like  muscular 
reflexes"  in  at  least  one  particular — it  is  a  vital  process  of  the  whole 
organism.  By  it  the  workman  throws  himself  whole-heartedly  into  his 
work.  The  Hebrew  writer  was  correct  who  said: 

"Now  faith  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of 
things  not  seen. 

"For  by  it  the  elders  obtained  a  good  report. 

"Through  faith  we  understand  that  the  worlds  were  framed  by 
the  word  of  God;  so  that  things  which  are  seen  were  not  made  of  things 
which  do  appear.  .  .  . 

"And  what  shall  I  more  say?  for  the  time  would  fail  me  to  tell  of 
Gideon,  and  of  Barak,  and  of  Samson,  and  of  Jepthae;  and  of  David 
also,  and  Samuel,  and  of  the  prophets; 

"Who  through  faith  subdued  kingdoms,  wrought  righteousness,  ob- 
tained promises,  stopped  the  mouths  of  lions, 

"Quenced  the  violence  of  fire,  escaped  the  edge  of  the  sword,  out 
of  weakness  were  made  strong,  waxed  valiant  in  fight,  turned  to  flight 
the  army  of  the  aliens."  (Hebrews  i.  1-2;  i.  32-34.) 

The  final  and  successful  method  for  the  development  of  faith  is  a 
personal  discovery,  following  a  personal  adventure.  It  involves  a  certain 
abandon.  It  never  succeeds  by  half-way  measures.  It  is  impossible  to 
set  forth  a  never-failing  regime,  but  it  is  possible  to  suggest  some  of 
the  fields  in  which  the  personal  discovery  can  be  made. 

For  the  teacher,  probably  the  most  important  thing  to  be  done  is  to 
write  out  the  purposes  that  call  for  faith.  Then  they  should  be  examined 
to  see  if  they  are  definite  enough  to  suggest  some  available  ways  and 
means  by  which  they  can  be  realized.  Then  they  must  be  critically 
examined  to  see  if  they  are  large  enough  to  demand  one's  greater  en- 
deavors. By  some  such  venture,  and  it  takes  some  faith  to  do  even  this 


53 

much,  the  teacher  may  discover  some  of  the  secret  places  of  personal 
power. 

Faith  has  a  way  of  developing  by  contagion  also.  The  "company  of 
the  faithful"  is  no  empty  phrase.  There  are  great  teachers,  living  and 
dead,  who  make  our  "communion  of  saints." 

(d)  Tenacity  of  Purpose. — The  tenacity  of  one's  purpose  depends  very 
much  upon  faith.  It,  too,  rests  back  upon  ' '  organic  resonance, ' '  muscular 
tonicity,  nerve  reserve,  and  a  clear  vision  of  ways  and  means  for  realizing 
the  large  purposes  definitely  defined  in  one's  philosophy  of  life,  which 
in  the  case  of  the  teacher  must  be  large  enough  to  encompass  himself, 
the  pupil,  and  the  rest  of  humanity. 

(3)  The  Emotional  Elements  in  a  Good  Leader. — The  volitional  factors 
in  our  personal  makeup  are  not  only  personal,  they  are  purely  individual. 
My  purposes  are  mine.  When  I  am  at  my  best  I  know  I  can  entertain 
them,  banish  them,  or  change  them,  much  as  I  please. 

The  content  of  the  intellectual  elements  in  spiritual  makeup  are  more 
or  less  impersonal.  Scientific  judgment,  to  be  valid,  must  eliminate  the 
personal  equation.  The  facts  of  the  objective  world  are  what  they  are, 
and  good  judgment  accepts  them  at  their  face  value.  Of  course,  we  must 
always  remember  that  among  the  facts  of  the  objective  world  are  other 
persons.  They  are  not  only  facts,  they  are  unique.  The  most  important 
fact  about  them  is  this  personal  equation.  Among  other  facts  is  our 
own  personal  equation  and  for  each  of  us  it  is  the  most  important  fact, 
because  it  makes  the  value  and  use  of  all  the  other  facts.  We  have, 
therefore,  three  classes  of  facts  to  deal  with:  (1)  Impersonal  facts,  the 
facts  of  things;  (2)  other  persons  as  persons,  not  as  things;  (3)  my  own 
self  as  center  of  my  own  universe.  This  personal  universe  is  organized 
and  held  together  by  certain  emotional  elements.  For  the  teacher  the 
essential  emotional  elements  are:  (1)  Sympathy;  (2)  Humility;  (3)  Love. 

1 '  '  This  is  my  commandment, '  said  Jesus  '  that  ye  love  one  another  as 
I  have  loved  you';  'Every  particle  of  matter  in  the  universe,'  said 
Newton,  'attracts  every  other  particle  with  a  force  directly  proportioned 
to  the  mass  of  the  attracting  particle,  and  inversely  to  the  square  of  the 
distance';  these  are  the  two  monumental  deliverances  in  human  knowl- 
edge, and  the  law  of  love  in  the  sphere  of  metaphysics  is  the  analogue  of 
the  law  of  gravitation  in  the  sphere  of  physics.  The  measure  of  ignorance 
in  religion  has  been  selfishness,  when  the  race  appears  a  certain  number 
of  individuals  fighting  each  for  his  own  hand.  The  master  achievement 
of  knowledge  has  been  the  discovery  of  unity.  Before  Newton,  gravita- 
tion was  holding  the  world  together;  it  was  his  honor  to  formulate  the 
law.  Before  Jesus,  love  was  preventing  the  dissolution  of  the  race:  it 
was  His  glory  to  dictate  the  law.  Newton  found  a  number  of  fragments 
and  left  a  physical  universe.  Jesus  found  a  multitude  of  individuals 
and  created  a  spiritual  kingdom.  The  advance  from  a  congeries  of  indi- 


54 

viduals  to  an  organized  society  is  marked  by  four  milestones:  First, 
we  are  simply  conscious  of  other  men  and  accept  the  fact  of  their 
existence;  we  realize  our  mutual  dependence  and  come  to  a  working 
agreement.  This  is  the  infancy  of  the  Race  and  conscience  is  not  yet 
awake.  Then  we  discover  that  there  are  certain  things  one  must  not 
do  to  his  neighbor,  and  certain  services  one  may  expect  from  his  neighbor, 
that  to  injure  the  next  man  is  misery  and  to  help  him  is  happiness.  This 
is  the  childhood  of  the  Eace",  and  conscience  now  asserts  itself.  Afterwards 
we  begin  to  review  the  situation  and  to  collect  our  various  duties:  we 
arrange  them  under  heads  and  state  them  in  black  and  white.  This  is 
the  youth  of  the  Race,  and  reason  is  now  in  action.  Finally,  we  take  our 
list  of  black  and  white  rules  and  try  to  settle  their  connection.  It  is 
not  possible  to  trace  them  all  to  one  root  and  comprehend  them  in  one 
act.  What  a  light  to  conscience,  a  relief  to  reason,  a  joy  to  the  heart! 
This  is  the  mature  manhood  of  the  Race  and  the  heart  is  now  in  evidence. 
From  an  instinct  to  duties,  from  duties  to  rule,  and  now  from  rules  to 
Law.  State  that  Law  and  the  Race  become  one  society."  (Maclaren, 
"The  Mind  of  the  Master,"  pp.  157-159.) 

1.  Sympathy  is  essentially  the  ability  and  disposition  to  employ  the 
Golden  Rule.    It  is  the  personal  quality  by  which  we  attract  to  ourselves 
the  persons  that  make  up  our  social  world.     This  furnishes  the  means 
for  multiplying  our  own  power.     It  is  also  the  power  that  binds  us  to 
those    we    serve.      The   teacher   must   stimulate,   guide,    and    control   the 
behavior  of  the  pupil  for  the  purpose  of  the  pupil's  well-being.     Sym- 
pathy is  therefore  an  indispensable  means  for  interpreting  the  interests 
and  behavior  of  the  pupil.     How  could  a  teacher  assign  a  lesson  intelli- 
gently or  judge  the  pupil's  work  justly  without  this  means  of  entering 
into  the  pupil's  life? 

Fortunately,  sympathy  like  every  other  power  develops  by  appropriate 
use.  Fortunately  also  for  the  teacher,  no  other  situation  affords  quite 
the  range  and  depth  for  exercising  this  power  that  personal  fellowship 
with  growing  youth  affords.  Growth  in  sympathy  not  only  increases 
personal  power  but  produces  profession  efficiency. 

2.  Humility. — Erroneously,  sympathy  is  often  conceived  as  a  feeling 
only  for  the  inferior,  for  those  suffering.     This  is  probably  due  to  the 
fact  that  these  cases  are  the  most  obvious.     Essentially,  sympathy  is  a 
principle  of  personal  equality — a  disposition  to  treat  others  even  when 
down  and  out  as  our  equals,  at  least  potentially.    By  contrast  humility  is 
stimulated    and    developed    by    contact    with    those    we    deem    superior. 
Humility  is  allegiance  to  those  spiritually  above  us.    By  this  allegiance  or 
devotion  to   the  principles   and  causes  represented   by   the   superior   we 
appropriate  their  power  through  fellowship.     Humility  is  the  power  by 
which  we  lift  ourselves  by  pulling  at  our  own  spiritual  boot-straps.     The 
Good  Book  warns  us  that  "We  cannot  by  taking  thought  add  to  our 


55 

stature";  but  by  contrast  this  is  just  the  way  we  add  to  our  spiritual 
stature,  if  we  take  the  right  kind  of  thought. 

Every  teacher  will,  of  course,  conclude  that  humility  is  a  pupil 
virtue.  The  ones  who  need  it  most  will  be  in  doubt  about  humility  as 
a  teaching  virtue.  Its  great  importance,  as  a  teaching  virtue,  comes 
from  its  contagious  quality.  The  teacher  that  exhibits  humility  towards 
those  spiritually  above  him  will  not  only  come  to  possess  those  qualities 
making  him  deserving  the  attitude  of  humility  from  the  pupils,  but  the 
example  will  be  contagious.  The  humble  pupil  is  just  in  the  mood  for  both 
effective  discipline  and  instruction. 

Humility,  like  sympathy,  is  developed  by  exercise  and  as  in  the  case 
of  sympathy  the  school  offers  most  inspiring  opportunities  for  its  use. 
The  whole  range  of  great  persons  of  the  world  are  at  our  command. 
Ought  not  the  teacher  bring  to  the  notice  of  the  pupils  the  lives  of 
the  men  and  women  who  have  made  the  great  contributions  to  the 
world?  Again,  there  are  great  teachers  that  might  become  a  source  of 
abiding  inspiration.  Alice  Freeman  Palmer,  Miss  Sullivan,  Agassiz,  Mark 
Hopkins,  and  Jesus  Himself.  Again  there  is  sufficient  ground  for 
humility  towards  many  of  the  pupils.  What  they  are  potentially  no  one 
can  tell,  but  we  know  they  are  more  than  will  be  realized,  and  if  we 
are  wise  we  realize  that  their  very  youth  gives  them  a  responsiveness 
to  the  spiritual  impress  not  possessed  by  older  persons.  It  is,  of  course, 
important  to  remember  that  the  final  virtue  of  humility  develops  upon 
the  insight  and  good  judgment  used  in  selecting  the  persons  we  deem 
spiritually  above  us. 

3.  Love. — "It  seems  hardly  decent  to  discuss  so  sacred  a  matter  in 
the  publicity  of  print.  Divinely  aware  of  this,  we  try  to  approach  the 
subject  delicately  through  such  phrases  as  'The  Spirit  of  Youth'  (Jane 
Addams),  or  'The  Life  Force'  (G.  Bernard  Shaw  in  "Man  and  Super- 
man"). To  free  the  word  'love'  from  its  association  with  boudoirs  and 
morbid  novels,  we  try  to  identify  it  with  something  genial  and  all- 
pervasive,  to  ally  it  with  the  great,  sane  forces  of  nature.  For  we 
believe  that  if  these  allies  stimulate  and  reinforce  personality,  if  they 
awaken  and  intensify  our  feeble  energies,  then  they  tend  to  ennoble  our 
affections."  (Eichard  C.  Cabot  in  "What  Men  Live  By.") 

Just  as  profane  persons  employ  the  names  of  holy  persons  to  express 
their  ignorant  emotions,  so  vulgarity  expresses  itself  by  jokes  about  love. 
Correctly  viewed,  of  course,  this  is  a  kind  of  negative  evidence  of  love 's 
supreme  place  among  the  emotions.  Another  narrowness  and  fallacy  in 
the  use  of  the  term  love  is  to  limit  it  to  emotions  aroused  by  opposite 
sexes,  and  then  raise  a  danger  signal  for  teachers,  warning  them  against 
personal  improprieties  between  teacher  and  pupil.  Like  all  the  other 
fundamental  forces  of  the  world,  love  is  very  powerful  and  therefore 
most  destructive  and  most  dangerous  when  misused. 


56 

Love  for  pupils  is  the  final  test  of  a  person's  right  to  pursue  the 
teaching  profession.  For  purposes  of  this  discussion,  love  may  be 
described  as  dispositional  interest  in  persons  manifested  by  two  groups 
of  emotions:  (1)  Satisfaction  in  the  presence  and  in  the  successes  of  the 
loved  ones;  (2)  dissatisfied  in  absence  and  with  the  failures  of  the  loved 
ones.  Under  these  relations  the  presence  of  the  pupil  stimulates  the  best 
endeavors  of  the  teacher  and  raises  his  activities  to  the  professional  grade 
where  he  disregards  selfish  or  even  personal  interests  in  the  interests  of 
those  he  serves. 

Love  is  not  only  the  final  test  of  the  teacher's  right  to  pose  as  a 
teacher,  it  is  the  organizing  principle  of  all  the  other  personal  qualities. 
It  determines  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  powers  the  teacher  exerts. 
It  determines  the  teacher's  enthusiasm  in  and  for  his  work  as  well  as 
the  satisfactions  and  dissatisfactions  from  this  work. 

Love  is  a  reciprocal  virtue.  It  is  a  social  process.  It  can  not  and 
does  not  live  in  isolation  or  in  a  vacuum.  In  the  teacher  it  attains  its 
supreme  development  by  active  interest  in  the  whole  range  of  the  pupil's 
life.  At  this  point  it  links  up  with  the  insight  (see  page  46)  of  the 
teacher  and  the  largeness  of  the  teacher's  purposes  (see  page  47).  Here 
we  come  upon  the  problem  of  the  teacher's  life  in  the  community  and 
upon  the  dangers  and  difficulties  of  large  schools  and  great  school  systems. 
There  is  a  limit  to  the  number  of  pupils  that  can  be  embraced  in  the 
teacher's  love.  There  is  also  a  limit  to  the  teacher's  time  and  energy 
that  can  be  spent  in  community  interests  and  functions.  In  former  times 
teachers  taught  more  subjects  to  fewer  pupils.  This  situation  had  every 
advantage  from  the  standpoint  of  personal  contact  and  influence.  The 
current  practice  tends  to  put  the  emphasis  upon  subject-matter  and  tries 
to  run  every  pupil  through  the  same  hopper.  There  is  prospect  of  even 
returning  to  the  academy  regime.  The  hope  of  democracy  through  the 
schools  as  a  personal  process  lies  in  so  changing  and  vitalizing  the 
subject-matter  and  method  that  each  school  process  functions  in  the 
life  the  pupils  now  live  and  in  the  further  requirement  that  these  present 
processes  shall  be  so  fundamental  that  they  will  not  only  be  interesting 
and  vital  now,  but  be  the  best  possible  preparation  for  any  essential  life 
process  in  the  future.  / 

Is  this  not  an  Utopian  dream?  It  is  not.  The  pupil  is  now  a  citizen 
in  our  democracy.  He  is  living  in  and  through  all  the  essential  life 
processes.  Eight  living  is  his  supreme  problem  and  it  affords  all  the 
kinds  of  problems  worthy  assignment  as  laboratory  or  school  room  tasks. 
In  short,  the  teacher  prepared  for  today's  task  loves  life  and  the  life 
and  spirit  of  youth  as  it  must  now  be  lived.  This  demands  that  the 
teachers  of  today  be  men  and  women  of  the  world.  Each  one  cannot 
be  skilled  in  all  the  crafts  of  the  world,  but  each  one  can  be  interested, 


57 

intelligent,  and  more  or  less  skilled  in  all  the  fundamental  social 
processes. 

The  teachers  who  love  scholarship  more  than  scholars  and  were  and 
are  interested  in  grades  and  curricula  will  still  excuse  their  procedure 
by  requirements  above  or  behind  them.  They  will  find  the  new  world 
distracting  and  annoying.  This  will  help  to  throw  them  on  the  pro- 
fessional scrap-heap. 

Like  the  other  teaching  virtues,  love  develops  by  loving,  and  children 
are  not  only  worthy  objects  of  love  but  most  responsive  to  its  power. 

Sympathy,  humility  and  love  are  the  supreme  teaching  virtues.  They 
thrive  only  in  company  and  are  most  stable  and  most  reliable  in  persons 
religiously  inclined.  Indeed  if  harmonized  into  "systems  of  sentiments," 
to  use  McDougal  's  phrase,  they  become  the  person 's  religion.  This  is 
the  great  contribution  of  religion — it  affords  the  fellowship  of  the  living 
and  the  dead  of  "one  mind."  This  furnishes  the  breath  of  spiritual  life. 

V. 

REGIME 

"Dost  thou  love  life?  Then  do  not  squander  time  for  that  is  the 
stuff  life  is  made  of."  (Benjamin  Franklin.) 

Most  workmen  take  their  vocation  and  daily  routine  very  much  as 
they  do  the  weather  and  their  own  age — as  a  matter  of  course,  over 
which  they  have  little  control.  This  is  a  kind  of  false  fatalism,  but  one 
easily  indulged. 

1.  There  is  no  necessary  relation  between  information  and  behavior, 
and  yet  information  makes  a  difference.     The  facts  concerning  personal 
power  and  improvability  contain  the  material  for  a  sane  and  workable 
philosophy  of  life.     But  facts  have  no  power.     Knowledge  of  these  facts 
as  such  has  no  power  to  move  anyone  to  improvement.     Most  knowledge 
somehow  has  the  power  to  turn  the  mind  towards  the  past.     With  most 
persons  past  middle  life  the  past  has  a  fatal  grip  upon  them.     I  suppose 
that  is  what  middle  life  means. 

2.  Knowledge  becomes  "the  instrument  of  successful  action"  only  in 
the  minds  of  those  that  propose  to  live  the  overcoming  life.     Such  a  life 
involves  both  the  past  and  the  future.    Successful  and  happy  people  live 
a  life  of  routine  and  a  life  of  reason.     A  life  program  ought  to  provide 
for  both.     The  recurring  processes  ought  to  be  mechanized  in  order  to 
leave  us  the  time  and  energy  for  the  things  that  are  worth  reasoning 
about. 

A  formal  arbitrary  program  can' never  vitalize  either  routine  or  new 
work,  because  a  program  is  "scaffolding  external  to  the  real  structure.  A 
regime  treated  as  'a  scaffolding,  however,  for  getting  at  the  real  work 
aids  in  improvement. 


58 


3.  Principles  for  Constructing  a  Personal  Program. 

(a)  Physiological  Principles. — A  regime  to  be  most  efficient  must  con- 
form to  the  physiological  laws  of  habit.  The  daily  recurring  processes 
of  life  ought  to  be  "gotten  into  one's  bones,"  into  the  backbone,  into 
the  spinal  cord.  But  even  after  so  mechanized,  many  of  them  can  be 
improved.  For  five  thousand  years,  bricklayers  made  as  many  as  eighteen 
motions  in  laying  a  single  brick.  By  taking  thought,  Gilbreth  reduced 
the  process  to  six  movements.  He  raised  bricklaying  to  an  art,  done 
beautifully.  He  learned  this  art  by  trying  to  lay  each  brick  a  little 
slicker  than  the  last  one.  Time  for  ' '  the  things  worth  reasoning  about ' ' 
may  be  secured  by  saving  time  on  the  processes  we  do  awkwardly  and 
wastefully.  To  do  this  requires  that  we  analyze  our  life  processes  for 
waste  motions.  Having  found  the  new  and  better  way,  it  must  be 
"focalized,"  done  thoughtfully,  a  few  times  until  it  is  mechanized. 

(fc)  Psychic  Law. — The  daily  program  must  conform  also  to  the  laws 
of  the  mind.  Even  the  stimulus  to  the  most  routine  acts  may  function 
in  determining  the  mood  or  emotional  accompaniment  of  the  act.  One's 
disposition  in  and  during  both  work  and  play  has  very  much  to  do  with 
the  bodily  and  mental  effects  of  behavior.  The  mood  for  work  and  play 
and  the  emotional  accompaniment  of  the  action  is  determined  largely 
by  the  sentiments  one  has  developed.  It  will  be  remembered  that  senti- 
ments cluster  around  objects,  using  the  term  object  in  two  senses:  (1)  The 
things  that  stimulate  the  senses  and  become  for  the  time  being  centers 
of  attention;  and  (2)  ends  to  be  obtained.  The  tools  one  uses  ought  to 
be  up  to  standard,  not  only  for  the  sake  of  the  work  to  be  accomplished, 
but  for  the  sake  of  the  workman.  The  subtle  and  far-reaching  power  of 
imitation  and  suggestion  are  just  coming  to  be  recognized. 

Teaching  may  be  idealized  around  images  of  great  teachers.  A  picture, 
a  book,  or  even  a  phrase  or  motto  may  be  used  to  stimulate  idealized 
processes.  In  the  teacher's  day  there  are  at  least  two  periods  when  such 
a  state  of  mind  is  desirable:  (1)  In  the  morning,  when  the  mental  toilet 
(mental  atmosphere  for  the  day)  is  being  made;  (2)  when  the  teacher 
arrives  at  the  teaching  desk  in  the  class  room.  A  picture  or  a  book  on 
the  dresser,  a  picture  or  book  on  the  desk — these  will  aid  in  this  form  of 
personal  improvement. 

Every  human  being  has  the  personal  privilege  of  selecting  his  own 
ideal  personages.  In  one  sense  it  is  a  kind  of  impertinence,  a  partial 
condemnation  of  the  plan,  to  suggest  a  list  from  which  the  teacher  may 
select  an  ideal,  yet  this  is  the  practical  way  to  help  those  who  have  not 
already  a  plan  of  their  own  as  good  or  better  than  this.  Note  the  use 
of  faces  and  names  in  advertising  or  political  campaigns.  There  are 
illustrious  names  and  faces  associated  with  teaching,  as  well  as  with  the 
more  public  and  more  spectacular  forms  of  human  service. 


59 

The  name  and  face  of  the  Great  Teacher  should  come  first.  To 
some,  of  course,  it  would  lack  inspiration  and  guiding  power.  This  is  due 
partly  to  ignorance  and  superstition,  as  the  aim  of  His  service  was  the 
"abundant"  life.  The  immediate  problems  of  life  were  His  means.  He 
used  the  method  of  example,  of  parable,  of  personal  reaction. 

Mark  Hopkins,  Agassiz,  Mary  Lyon,  Alice  Freeman  Palmer,  Anna 
Mansfield  Sullivan  (now  Mrs.  Macy),  Booker  T.  Washington,  Thomas 
Davidson — these  make  a  worthy  American  list. 

Great  teachers  also  idealize  the  pupil.  Daily  the  ideal  pupil  should 
function  in  the  teaching  mind,  not  so  much  as  a  standard  for  criticism 
as  one  for  guidance  in  selecting  the  positive  means  and  methods  for 
stimulating  the  pupil.  For  this  purpose,  Hoffman's  picture  of  the  boy 
Jesus  before  the  doctors  is  effective. 

(c)  The  Cosmic  Law  and  Social  Usage. — The  essence  of  life  is  a  series 
of  rhythms.  The  cosmic  foundations  of  this 'characteristic  of  life  have 
been  already  pointed  out.  The  concrete  realization  of  it  is  in  the  twenty- 
four  hour  day,  and  the  seven  day  week.  The  good  old  world  always  comes 
around  to  a  new  day,  and  we  can  start  over  again.  It  is  wise  to  learn 
to  live  on  twenty-four  hours  a  day,  for  that  is  all  we  will  get;  but  we 
are  sure  to  get  that  much.  Sometimes  teachers  are  tricked  into  saying 
"There  is  not  time,"  "I  do  not  have  time."  This  is  not  true.  Teachers 
have  all  the  time  there  is  and  .there  is  always  time  for  essentials.  '  Time 
to  do  what  we  want  to  do  is  wholly  a  question  of  emphasis. 

Twenty-four  hours  a  day  is  plenty  of  time  for  all  we  ought  to  do, 
anyway.  Of  course,  if  by  awkwardness,  idleness,  ignorance,  bad  man- 
agement, or  vulgar  interruption  we  waste  any  of  the  sacred  hours,  they 
are  gone  forever,  and  we  must  pay  the  price — a  deficit  in  life's  account. 

There  is  nothing  in  nature  or  in  life  itself  to  suggest  the  distribution 
of  time  to  our  several  tasks.  This  is  the  problem  of  the  personal  program. 
Nature  divides  the  day  into  light  and  darkness,  but  by  tools  and  the 
capturing  of  sunshine  man  has  freed  himself  from  these  natural  limitations. 

In  general,  human  beings  at  their  best  may  divide  the  day  into  three 
equal  portions:  eight  hours  for  vocation,  eight  hours  for  avocation  and 
recreation,  and  eight  hours  for  sleep. 

Few  teachers  really  work  eight  hours  a  day.  Withhold  your  judgment, 
please!  I  said  work;  some  "putter"  around  about  their  work  more  than 
eight  hours.  Eight  hours  of  controlled,  directed  effort  upon  the  profes- 
sional problems  of  the  day  is  all  that  any  teacher  should  give  under 
normal  circumstances.  Emergency  may  arise  to  produce  a  situation  in 
which  the  teacher  ought  to  be  physically  able  to  give  the  time  needed 
for  the  emergency  without  being  "all  in "  at  the  end. 

Eight  hours  of  good  sound  sleep  is  generally  sufficient  for  the  healthy 
adult.  Count  two  hours  for  eating  and  two  hours  for  personal  toilet, 


60 

there  still  remains  four  hours  every  day  for  avocation  and  recreation — 
physical,  mental,  and  moral. 

Viewed  from  a  schedule  card,  that  is  the  way  it  looks.  Very  frequently 
at  the  end  of  a  twenty-four  hour  day  it  does  not  look  that  way.  If 
sometimes  it  does  not  look  correct,  it  need  not  shock  us  nor  discourage 
us  until  the  schedule  regularly  becomes  irregular.  Then  it  deserves  careful 
attention.  Degeneration  may  have  set  in,  but  ' '  degeneration  is  objective 
and  economic,  while  regeneration  is  psychic  and  personal,"  says  Patton, 
with  abundant  proof.  By  this  statement  Patton  means  that  these 
irregularities  are  due  to  the  way  in  which  we  use  time,  means,  and 
energy,  and  that  our  destiny  is  in  our  own  hands.  If  we  personally  take 
charge  of  ourselves  and  the  twenty -four  hour  day  we  can  be  "regen- 
erated. ' '  A  program  is  possible  and  desirable,  but  programs  do  not 
make  themselves  nor  enforce  themselves. 

Planning,  scheduling,  and  dispatching  are  the  technical  terms  used 
in  scientific  management  for  programming.  Planning  is  a  description  of 
the  contents  of  the  program.  Scheduling  distributes  the  contents  of  the 
plan  and  determines  the  sequence  of  the  different  processes  and  the 
amount  of  time  allowed  to  each.  Dispatching  is  execution  of  the 
schedules — beginning  on  time,  quitting  on  time. 

Necessarily,  a  program  is  a  personal  affair.  Your  program  cannot 
be  made  to  order  for  you,  yet  nature  and  society  are  so  mechanized 
that  the  general  feature  of  the  plan  may  be  suggested. 

1.  Arise. 

2.  Bodily  toilet. 

3.  Mental  and  spiritual  toilet. 

4.  Study. 

5.  Breakfast. 

6.  Survey  of  daily  plan. 

7.  Work. 

8.  Luncheon. 

9.  Work. 

10.  Besurvey  of  plan. 

11.  Recreation. 

12.  Dinner. 

13.  Personal  recreation  or  improvement. 

14.  Evening  toilet  (mental  as  well  as  physical). 

15.  Sleep. 

CONCLUSION. — A  physiological  day  is  one  in  which  the  recreation  of 
the  day  and  the  sleep  of  the  night  make  it  possible  to  begin  the  new  day 
without  impaired  vitality.  Nature  furnishes  an  original  surplus.  If  this 
surplus  is  conserved  by  a  rational  regime,  each  day  will  be  not  only 
new  but  better,  and  self -improvement  is  achieved. 


\ 


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NOV   22  1932 
HOV  23  193, 

MOV   25  19b, 


ocr 


1935 


JUL    291938 
AUG    12  1938 


LD  21-50m-8,-32 


